My daughter sent me this link. Click here to view it. Another commentary not to be missed. Perhaps the most telling aspect of the link is the question at the end: Why do people respect intelligence in every other field but ridicule it in politics?
I've been wondering the same thing. After nearly eight years of broken English, we have the opportunity to elect a Harvard educated scholar who graduated with honors to lead our country. Yet Barack Obama, who not incidentally walked away from a mid-six figure salary to work to rebuild the community on the South Side of Chicago, gets no credit from the illiterati for having the intelligence to address our nation's problems.
More later.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
An Analysis of Sarah Palin from a Long Time Observer
By now you may have seen the e-mail circulating on the Internet regarding the qualifications of Sarah Palin from a longtime resident of Wasilla, Alaska. Anne Kilkenny's correspondence provides a detailed review of Governor Palin's performance in the various positions she has held leading up to her run for Vice-President.
Many have questioned the authenticity of the letter. It certainly reads like something that might have been fabricated by an Obama supporter. I came to believe that it was genuine when I listened to an NPR interview of the author. By "genuine", I mean that the author is who she says she is. I have not verified the accuracy of her observations. However, most of the observations are fairly subjective and capable of independent verification.
This evening I was catching up on David Emery's Urban Legend Guide, a good source for investigating the accuracy of matters popping up on the Internet or in e-mails (stay away from Nigerian government officials who offer you millions from that country's oil revenues in exchange for a little off shore banking assistance). The Guide raised the issue of Kilkenny's correspondence and verified that it was a legitimate document, not an Internet hoax. The Guide posts the Kilkenny letter in its entirety and, at the end, offers a bibliography with which to independently investigate the claims made therein.
It's worth reading if you haven't already done so. Kilkenny's letter addresses Governor Palin's modus operandi as a mayor and as a governor. If true, you'll cringe every time you hear the governor or her benefactor, Senator McCain, brag about her administrative experience.
To read the Kilkenny letter, click here. When you're done, have some fun and explore the Urban Legend Guide to see David Emery debunk some commonly held perceptions about our world today that have assumed a mantle of respectability merely because they have been repeated often enough. I suppose that under that definition, the Bush Administration is the master at creating Urban Legends, starting with the whopper that W was elected president in 2000.
Many have questioned the authenticity of the letter. It certainly reads like something that might have been fabricated by an Obama supporter. I came to believe that it was genuine when I listened to an NPR interview of the author. By "genuine", I mean that the author is who she says she is. I have not verified the accuracy of her observations. However, most of the observations are fairly subjective and capable of independent verification.
This evening I was catching up on David Emery's Urban Legend Guide, a good source for investigating the accuracy of matters popping up on the Internet or in e-mails (stay away from Nigerian government officials who offer you millions from that country's oil revenues in exchange for a little off shore banking assistance). The Guide raised the issue of Kilkenny's correspondence and verified that it was a legitimate document, not an Internet hoax. The Guide posts the Kilkenny letter in its entirety and, at the end, offers a bibliography with which to independently investigate the claims made therein.
It's worth reading if you haven't already done so. Kilkenny's letter addresses Governor Palin's modus operandi as a mayor and as a governor. If true, you'll cringe every time you hear the governor or her benefactor, Senator McCain, brag about her administrative experience.
To read the Kilkenny letter, click here. When you're done, have some fun and explore the Urban Legend Guide to see David Emery debunk some commonly held perceptions about our world today that have assumed a mantle of respectability merely because they have been repeated often enough. I suppose that under that definition, the Bush Administration is the master at creating Urban Legends, starting with the whopper that W was elected president in 2000.
Friday, September 12, 2008
A Little MORE Comic Relief
Thursday, September 11, 2008
A Little Comic Relief
In an effort to reduce my blood pressure before drafting the next installment of Prairie Pondering, I'd like to share one of the funniest clips I've heard in a long time. It is purportedly a recording of the voicemail conversation John McCain left for Sarah Palin when he called to ask her to be his running mate.
Click here for a link to the audio clip. Enjoy! Refer your friends and come back soon!
Click here for a link to the audio clip. Enjoy! Refer your friends and come back soon!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Rethinking the Wisdom of Abolishing Literacy Tests
We may have fallen prey to a Constitutional sleight of hand when we abolished the use of a literacy test to determine who was qualified to vote. While focusing on efforts to eliminate Southern states' discriminatory practices designed to prevent African American voter registration, we ignored the consequences of allowing the emergence of an uninformed, functionally illiterate, mob mentality electorate.
I'm talking about the Republicans.
I learned not to assume an informed electorate back in 1982. My father lost his bid to run as the DFL candidate for Minnesota Treasurer (after winning endorsement at the nominating convention) when he was defeated in the primary. Bob Mattson, a Florida barbeque restaurant owner won the primary while still living in Florida by relying on nothing more than the name recognition inherited from his father, a former Minnesota Attorney General. Betty Wilson, the grande dame of Minnesota political reporters, later apologized to my father, telling him they did not take Mattson's candidacy seriously and, therefore, never bothered to report on it during the campaign.
Nothing compared to the disgust I felt over that outcome until I witnessed the enthusiastic support Sarah Palin has received over the past 10 days in her bid to be one very old heartbeat away from the presidency. I am personally deeply offended that Mr. "Country First" would stoop so low and put us all at risk just to shore up the conservative Republican base and inject some faux excitement into a lackluster campaign. I am even more offended that so many of my fellow Americans, freed from the shackles of having to demonstrate literacy as a condition of voter eligibility, choose to make no independent investigation of Governor Palin's qualifications for office and, instead, mindlessly repeat the spoon fed propaganda absorbed from the self-proclaimed straight talker at the head of the ticket.
Here's some "prairie pondering".
a.) It makes no sense for Republicans to be so excited about a Palin candidacy in light of their failure to more strongly support Governor Mike Huckabee during the primary/caucus process. Governor Huckabee and Governor Palin share the same evangelical Christian viewpoints. The obvious conclusion one draws is that Republicans are more concerned about style than substance.
b.) As I write this, it has been 10 days, 9 hours and 27 minutes since Senator McCain announced his choice for a running mate. It has been the same 10 days, 9 hours and 27 minutes, and counting, since Governor Palin has submitted to an unscripted news conference or one-on-one interview with the national news media. How can anyone in their right mind pontificate on what a wonderful candidate Governor Palin is when they have no way of knowing what she really stands for or how qualified she is? Every other candidate has been vetted ad nauseum by the media and by those members of the electorate who opt to pay attention to the fruits of our Fourth Estate's labors. The McCain campaign's decision to limit Governor Palin's exposure to the public smacks of a Cheney-esque obsession with controlling the public's ability (forget "right") to know and should, in and of itself, disqualify either the old codger or his trophy running mate from seeking the public trust. The obvious conclusion one draws is that Republicans are more concerned about style than substance.
c.) Apparently, Senator McCain is in the "If you can't beat them, join them" camp when it comes to offering leadership to the country. After months of attacking Barack Obama for his celebrity status and insisting that the Democratic front runner, then presumptive nominee and now candidate lacks the experience to occupy the Oval Office, Senator McCain bet his candidacy on the human interest stories to be dredged from running with a modern day Annie Oakley. Six colleges in six years? Who cares? She can shoot. Doesn't believe humans have a significant hand in climate change? So what? She supports expanding drilling to the point that it will be someone else's problem by the time we run out of oil. No foreign policy experience? Big deal. W had rarely been out of the country before we elected him and that worked out okay. The important thing, according to Senator McCain, is that his running mate can get all cutesy when she delivers speeches written by President Bush's scribes, follow the script when out on the campaign trail, draw exuberant crowds of illiterati who fawn over his pitbull with lipstick and cry "foul" and "sexism" in response to any legitimate inquiry about her qualifications. The obvious conclusion one draws is that Republicans are more concerned about style than substance.
d.) The Emperor is naked. Enough of this nonsense. I hereby impose a new literacy test on anyone desiring to vote for the next president of the United States. If you can't take the time to inform yourself about the respective candidates' positions, including the candidates for vice president, by READING some detailed, thoughtful, unadulterated analysis, you can't vote. If you insist on voting anyway, I will call you an idiot to your face. I've already implemented this policy and my phone has rung less often this past week.
I refuse to risk my future and my family's future on the mood swing of an uninformed electorate. If you qualify to vote under my proclaimed standard, you don't have to agree with me. You don't have to vote for the candidates I support. We live in a democracy and I'll gladly risk my future and my family's future on the decisions of an informed electorate (however misguided). We now find ourselves in a situation where Republicans insist that Senator Obama lacks substance and depends entirely on style while they promote the candidacy of Governor Palin, who depends entirely on style and is sequestered from demonstrating any meaningful substance. It's time to crawl back through the looking glass.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. You may now vote.
I'm talking about the Republicans.
I learned not to assume an informed electorate back in 1982. My father lost his bid to run as the DFL candidate for Minnesota Treasurer (after winning endorsement at the nominating convention) when he was defeated in the primary. Bob Mattson, a Florida barbeque restaurant owner won the primary while still living in Florida by relying on nothing more than the name recognition inherited from his father, a former Minnesota Attorney General. Betty Wilson, the grande dame of Minnesota political reporters, later apologized to my father, telling him they did not take Mattson's candidacy seriously and, therefore, never bothered to report on it during the campaign.
Nothing compared to the disgust I felt over that outcome until I witnessed the enthusiastic support Sarah Palin has received over the past 10 days in her bid to be one very old heartbeat away from the presidency. I am personally deeply offended that Mr. "Country First" would stoop so low and put us all at risk just to shore up the conservative Republican base and inject some faux excitement into a lackluster campaign. I am even more offended that so many of my fellow Americans, freed from the shackles of having to demonstrate literacy as a condition of voter eligibility, choose to make no independent investigation of Governor Palin's qualifications for office and, instead, mindlessly repeat the spoon fed propaganda absorbed from the self-proclaimed straight talker at the head of the ticket.
Here's some "prairie pondering".
a.) It makes no sense for Republicans to be so excited about a Palin candidacy in light of their failure to more strongly support Governor Mike Huckabee during the primary/caucus process. Governor Huckabee and Governor Palin share the same evangelical Christian viewpoints. The obvious conclusion one draws is that Republicans are more concerned about style than substance.
b.) As I write this, it has been 10 days, 9 hours and 27 minutes since Senator McCain announced his choice for a running mate. It has been the same 10 days, 9 hours and 27 minutes, and counting, since Governor Palin has submitted to an unscripted news conference or one-on-one interview with the national news media. How can anyone in their right mind pontificate on what a wonderful candidate Governor Palin is when they have no way of knowing what she really stands for or how qualified she is? Every other candidate has been vetted ad nauseum by the media and by those members of the electorate who opt to pay attention to the fruits of our Fourth Estate's labors. The McCain campaign's decision to limit Governor Palin's exposure to the public smacks of a Cheney-esque obsession with controlling the public's ability (forget "right") to know and should, in and of itself, disqualify either the old codger or his trophy running mate from seeking the public trust. The obvious conclusion one draws is that Republicans are more concerned about style than substance.
c.) Apparently, Senator McCain is in the "If you can't beat them, join them" camp when it comes to offering leadership to the country. After months of attacking Barack Obama for his celebrity status and insisting that the Democratic front runner, then presumptive nominee and now candidate lacks the experience to occupy the Oval Office, Senator McCain bet his candidacy on the human interest stories to be dredged from running with a modern day Annie Oakley. Six colleges in six years? Who cares? She can shoot. Doesn't believe humans have a significant hand in climate change? So what? She supports expanding drilling to the point that it will be someone else's problem by the time we run out of oil. No foreign policy experience? Big deal. W had rarely been out of the country before we elected him and that worked out okay. The important thing, according to Senator McCain, is that his running mate can get all cutesy when she delivers speeches written by President Bush's scribes, follow the script when out on the campaign trail, draw exuberant crowds of illiterati who fawn over his pitbull with lipstick and cry "foul" and "sexism" in response to any legitimate inquiry about her qualifications. The obvious conclusion one draws is that Republicans are more concerned about style than substance.
d.) The Emperor is naked. Enough of this nonsense. I hereby impose a new literacy test on anyone desiring to vote for the next president of the United States. If you can't take the time to inform yourself about the respective candidates' positions, including the candidates for vice president, by READING some detailed, thoughtful, unadulterated analysis, you can't vote. If you insist on voting anyway, I will call you an idiot to your face. I've already implemented this policy and my phone has rung less often this past week.
I refuse to risk my future and my family's future on the mood swing of an uninformed electorate. If you qualify to vote under my proclaimed standard, you don't have to agree with me. You don't have to vote for the candidates I support. We live in a democracy and I'll gladly risk my future and my family's future on the decisions of an informed electorate (however misguided). We now find ourselves in a situation where Republicans insist that Senator Obama lacks substance and depends entirely on style while they promote the candidacy of Governor Palin, who depends entirely on style and is sequestered from demonstrating any meaningful substance. It's time to crawl back through the looking glass.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. You may now vote.
Teaching Palin About Community Organizers
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I'm working on a piece that does more than scream at the moon. In the meantime, check this out. It's not slick. It's not over produced. There's no American flag waving in the background. But it's dead on. Oh, and here's another question:
The space you see here used to be filled with a link to MoveOn.org's clock ticking off the time since Sarah Palin had been chosen as John McCain's running mate AND the time since she had subjected herself to an interview with the mainstream media. The question referred to above (incorporated into the clock) was "Why won't Sarah Palin speak to the press?" On Thursday, September 11, ABC News began to broadcast a series of snippets from two days of interviews with Sarah Palin conducted by Charlie Gibson. Apparently, when it happened, MoveOn.org took down the clock and the link, like the infamous bridge, went to nowhere.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Veepstakes
I spent Friday as a hybrid of a political junkie and Pavlov's dog. I grabbed my BlackBerry everytime it buzzed, hoping to learn who Senator Obama had selected to be his running mate. It wouldn't make any real difference in my life if it took until the convention in Denver to find out who would be joining the ticket. But the political junkie half of the hybrid had to have a fix.
Ultimately, I received the news online just before midnight. The Associated Press reported that Virginia's Governor Kaine and Indiana's Senator Bayh had not been selected. They based the report on leaks from the prospective candidates' staffs. The AP also reported that the Secret Service was on its way to Senator Biden's home outside Wilmington, Delaware. I went to bed slightly disappointed that there hadn't been a magic technology moment in which I was informed of the the veep selection directly by my candidate. The disappointment was more than offset by my satisfaction with the choice.
Joe Biden offers the ticket an innoculation against charges that a President Obama would not have sufficient foreign affairs experience during these perilous times to justify entrusting him with the responsibility. He also has enough experience in the corridors of the Capitol to effectively advocate on behalf of an Obama Administration's policies. In my mind, this was the most critical element in the selection of a running mate.
Campaigning as an "outsider" who is going to change Washington represents nothing more than a quixotic endeavor unless, once elected, a candidate has the clout to get the insiders to go along with the program. One only has to recall Jimmy Carter's successful campaign and generally failed presidency to see my point. Senator Biden, however, fills the relatively rare role of a respected member of Congress who has continued to nurture his roots and relate to the public's frustration with the status quo. And while President Carter squandered the talent of Walter Mondale, who also served in an advisory and advocacy role, Barack Obama has the inspirational ability that Jimmy Carter lacked that will be necessary to lay the groundwork for Vice President Biden's lobbying efforts on behalf of an Obama/Biden administration.
A final thought: I've thought for some time that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty will become the GOP V.P. candidate. The McCain campaign's reaction to the selection of Joe Biden by Senator Obama makes me even more certain. The McCain campaign wasted no time in putting up a television ad showing Senator Biden criticizing Senator Obama when they were still competing for the nomination. It makes no sense to pursue that line of attack if you're planning on nominating a strong critic of John McCain, e.g. Mitt Romney, in a little more than a week.
Ultimately, I received the news online just before midnight. The Associated Press reported that Virginia's Governor Kaine and Indiana's Senator Bayh had not been selected. They based the report on leaks from the prospective candidates' staffs. The AP also reported that the Secret Service was on its way to Senator Biden's home outside Wilmington, Delaware. I went to bed slightly disappointed that there hadn't been a magic technology moment in which I was informed of the the veep selection directly by my candidate. The disappointment was more than offset by my satisfaction with the choice.
Joe Biden offers the ticket an innoculation against charges that a President Obama would not have sufficient foreign affairs experience during these perilous times to justify entrusting him with the responsibility. He also has enough experience in the corridors of the Capitol to effectively advocate on behalf of an Obama Administration's policies. In my mind, this was the most critical element in the selection of a running mate.
Campaigning as an "outsider" who is going to change Washington represents nothing more than a quixotic endeavor unless, once elected, a candidate has the clout to get the insiders to go along with the program. One only has to recall Jimmy Carter's successful campaign and generally failed presidency to see my point. Senator Biden, however, fills the relatively rare role of a respected member of Congress who has continued to nurture his roots and relate to the public's frustration with the status quo. And while President Carter squandered the talent of Walter Mondale, who also served in an advisory and advocacy role, Barack Obama has the inspirational ability that Jimmy Carter lacked that will be necessary to lay the groundwork for Vice President Biden's lobbying efforts on behalf of an Obama/Biden administration.
A final thought: I've thought for some time that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty will become the GOP V.P. candidate. The McCain campaign's reaction to the selection of Joe Biden by Senator Obama makes me even more certain. The McCain campaign wasted no time in putting up a television ad showing Senator Biden criticizing Senator Obama when they were still competing for the nomination. It makes no sense to pursue that line of attack if you're planning on nominating a strong critic of John McCain, e.g. Mitt Romney, in a little more than a week.
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