Comments Off

Whenever you hear unbelievable smears about a person … that they are so dumb they don’t know Africa is a continent and not a country, for instance … its wise to sit back and consider the rumor.

For years we’ve heard how stupid President Bush is because he mangles sentences regularly. Now, conservatives are giving Vice President Elect Joe Biden the same treatment, with talk show hosts like Hugh Hewitt calling him “slow Joe”, while the partisan hacks that savaged President Bush are strangely silent. While there is a place for mild political invective of Hewitt’s sort, we have to realize that some people will actually believe the slur.

Neither President Bush nor VP Elect Biden are stupid. If you think they are, look at what station they hold in life and ask yourself: am I smarter than them? Why am I not in that position?

The latest recipient of the wider media’s scorn is Sarah Palin. And there’s a hint of sexism in the charges this time out; the rumors of her bad temper describe her as a “diva”, while a man would be said to have a “bad temper”. But beyond that, they are simply unbelievable charges. The source, it seems, are disgruntled campaign workers who are smarting from their recent loss and, the theory goes, need to establish a scapegoat. After days of the “leaks” from former McCain staffers, some have come forward defending her:

Steve Biegun and spokesman Tracy Schmitt both told reporters on Sunday that the ones going after Palin are acting maliciously and spreading lies about her.

“I’m appalled by it because Sarah Palin was one of nicest people I have ever had the chance to work with,” said Biegun, a former Bush NSC aide. “I’ve worked in Washington for 20 years, on the Hill, in the White House and in the private sector, and she ranks at the highest levels of decency, kindness and graciousness of anybody I’ve ever worked with.”

From PoliGazette

PoliGazette goes on to explain several of the more outrageous smears coming from former campaign workers. What it doesn’t say is how short-sighted making such attacks can be.

Sarah Palin is obviously an up and coming political figure. She could very well be on the ticket again in 2012, or be prominently featured in an upcoming Republican administration. Poking sticks at a lion cub may seem like fun, but cubs grow up to be adult lions.

Comments Off

As Republicans deconstruct the loss last Tuesday, there will be plenty of recriminations and lots of finger pointing. But I’d rather learn the why of our failures; why didn’t we connect with a populace more in tune with our views than the views of the winner?

John McCain is an honorable man, and there’s at least an arguable position that he did better than any other candidate could have. Its very rare for the Executive branch to be held by one party for more than two terms (in the last 60 years, the only example we have is President Bush succeeding President Reagan). The current President is enormously unpopular, unfairly so in my opinion, but clearly so among our fellow citizens. Long wars make Democracies nervous, and ours tired of the commitment in Iraq, even as the news turned good there and the media didn’t notice. And a coming recession, with a financial meltdown, may have made it all but impossible to win.

But honor has a flip side, introducing a delay as you consider all angles of an issue to see if it offends you or not. Newsweek has an article with some tidbits that shed some light on the campaign:

McCain also was reluctant to use Obama’s incendiary pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as a campaign issue. The Republican had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism. Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons). And before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a “celebrity” ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).

Sen. Obama’s relationship with Rev. Wright was on-going, for over 20 years, a voluntary association that was renewed every time Sen. Obama walked through the doors of the church. That was off-limits? No children in campaign ads, and no stressing that national security helps protect them from the monsters in the world that have no hesitation slaughtering them for their ends? That was off-limits?

There were rumors of “rouge behavior” by VEEP candidate Palin during the campaign, and the Newsweek article includes one example:

Palin launched her attack on Obama’s association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain’s advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.

Gov. Palin came to the campaign late, just over two months from the end. McCain’s top advisor was resisting using another one of Sen. Obama’s voluntary associations, this time with a man who was unapologetic about his attempts to bring down the government of the United States? A man who, except for the dubious legal doctrine that threw out all evidence against him, might still be serving time in a federal prison? This was off-limits?

Perhaps raising these issues would not have made a difference. Sen. McCain deserves our thanks for the tireless campaigning. But has the culture at large appreciated his “honorable” stand? Or has the culture been given an impression that he “went negative” in spite of his efforts?

One of Barack Obama’s books was “The Audacity of Hope,” a phrase taken from his pastor, who he highly praises as a mentor, that same Rev. Wright. The American people should have been given a chance to hear about Rev. Wright from Sen. McCain. More should have been said about William Ayers, the man standing on the American flag in the Chicago Tribune’s Sept. 11th edition on that fateful day. It may not have made a difference in the election itself, but forewarned is forearmed. Now the American people will have to find out by themselves.

It seems when the Audacity of Hope meets the ambivalence of honor, audacity wins.

Comments Off

Ouch!