Wednesday, February 22, 2006
 

Lessons

I have real doubts about whether the American populace has learned any lessons from Iraq, except that we shouldn't invade Iraq.
Chris Bowers
How Can We Create A Change Election in 2006?

I think that's probably true, given the similar inability of Americans old enough to know better to draw the right conclusions from Vietnam.

In any event, Chris has done some good thinking in this post, including this most important thought:

People who think about politics a lot should realize that they don't think about politics the way that the vast majority of the nation does. For starters, the vast majority of the nation doesn't actually think about politics that much.
This is painful for political junkies to admit, but if you're paying a lot of attention to what's going on in politics, you are, practically by definition, not in the same frame of mind as the vast majority of the electorate, who don't want to be bothered thinking about politics or elections until they absolutely have to. The more they're forced to think about them, because the ruling party is fucking up, the more pissed off they're going to be at the people they believe are in charge.

Looking ahead to 2008, I take this as more evidence that our choice of a Democratic Presidential candidate should not be based primarily on their policy platforms, their experience at governing, their ideological orientation, or how relentlessly the mainstream media presses them on us as the "front runner". No, I begin to believe more and more than our choice should be based on extremely superficial attributes such as:
  • Is the candidate taller than the likely candidate for the other side?


  • Do people feel comfortable with the candidate, would they want to bring him or her home and sit down and watch a game and drink some beers.


  • Does the candidate look like a President?


  • But more importantly: Is the candidate good looking?

Context is important, of course: if the opposition candidate is a complete dud, you can field someone against him who isn't ideal -- but if they put up someone who fulfills these basic superficial requirements, you've got to have someone who does it better, regardless of whether the person's an airhead or not. (After all, if they're going to elect an airhead, isn't it better that they elect our airhead?)

I've been saying this for a while -- we've got to stop picking candidates on the basis of wonkish criteria, and seriously start casting our President. If we can't do the job, call in some folks from Hollywood to help. A good casting director knows the difference between someone who "reads" Presidential and someone who doesn't, and, given that they make those kind of discriminations hundreds of times a day, they should be able to tell us quite quickly which ones of our potential candidates have a shot. (We don't have to use an already-minted celebrity, as long as the person has celebrity-like qualities.)

So, while Chris Bowers is doing the heaving lifting in figuring out how to make 2006 a change election, I've come up with two ideas which I think are essential to keep in mind for 2008:

  • Avoid Senators, but Governors are OK.


  • Pick our candidate as if we were casting the role of President

I'm serious here, we can't afford to lose in 2008, which means we can't afford to do things the old way -- it don't work.

Ed Fitzgerald | 2/22/2006 02:53:00 AM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE







by

Ed Fitzgerald

Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right,
Here I am...
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2008 rules of thumb
Progressive populism!
Economic insecurity is key
Restore the balance
Cast the candidate
Persona is important
Calm,calming,assured,reassuring
Iraq, not "national security"
Prefer governors over senators
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a progressive slogan
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"I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless, incessant barking."
(Alex Gregory - The New Yorker)
new york city
another progressive slogan
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iraq
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& progressive religiosity
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election prediction
HOUSE
Democrats 230 (+27) - Republicans 205

Actual:
Democrats 233 (+30) - Republicans 201 - TBD 1 [FL-13]

SENATE
Democrats 50 (+5) - Republicans 50

Actual:
Democrats 51 (+6) - Republicans 49

ELECTION PROJECTIONS SURVEY
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Never a bridesmaid...

...and never a bride, either!!

what I've been reading
Martin van Creveld - The Transformation of War

Jay Feldman - When the Mississippi Ran Backwards

Martin van Creveld - The Rise and Decline of the State

Alfred W. Crosby - America's Forgotten Pandemic (1989)
bush & company are...
absolutist
aggresive
anti-Constitutional
anti-intellectual
arrogant
authoritarian
blame-placers
blameworthy
blinkered
buckpassers
calculating
class warriors
clueless
compassionless
con artists
conniving
conscienceless
conspiratorial
corrupt
craven
criminal
crooked
culpable
damaging
dangerous
deadly
debased
deceitful
delusional
despotic
destructive
devious
disconnected
dishonorable
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disingenuous
disrespectful
dogmatic
doomed
fanatical
fantasists
felonious
hateful
heinous
hostile to science
hypocritical
ideologues
ignorant
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incompetent
indifferent
inflexible
insensitive
insincere
irrational
isolated
kleptocratic
lacking in empathy
lacking in public spirit
liars
mendacious
misleading
mistrustful
non-rational
not candid
not "reality-based"
not trustworthy
oblivious
oligarchic
opportunistic
out of control
pernicious
perverse
philistine
plutocratic
prevaricating
propagandists
rapacious
relentless
reprehensible
rigid
scandalous
schemers
selfish
secretive
shameless
sleazy
tricky
unAmerican
uncaring
uncivil
uncompromising
unconstitutional
undemocratic
unethical
unpopular
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unrealistic
unreliable
unrepresentative
unscientific
unscrupulous
unsympathetic
venal
vile
virtueless
warmongers
wicked
without integrity
wrong-headed

Thanks to: Breeze, Chuck, Ivan Raikov, Kaiju, Kathy, Roger, Shirley, S.M. Dixon
recently seen
Island in the Sky (1952)

Robot Chicken

The Family Guy

House M.D. (2004-7)
i've got a little list...
Elliott Abrams
Steven Abrams (Kansas BofE)
David Addington
Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson
Roger Ailes (FNC)
John Ashcroft
Bob Bennett
William Bennett
Joe Biden
John Bolton
Alan Bonsell (Dover BofE)
Pat Buchanan
Bill Buckingham (Dover BofE)
George W. Bush
Saxby Chambliss
Bruce Chapman (DI)
Dick Cheney
Lynne Cheney
Richard Cohen
The Coors Family
Ann Coulter
Michael Crichton
Lanny Davis
Tom DeLay
William A. Dembski
James Dobson
Leonard Downie (WaPo)
Dinesh D’Souza
Gregg Easterbrook
Jerry Falwell
Douglas Feith
Arthur Finkelstein
Bill Frist
George Gilder
Newt Gingrich
John Gibson (FNC)
Alberto Gonzalez
Rudolph Giuliani
Sean Hannity
Katherine Harris
Fred Hiatt (WaPo)
Christopher Hitchens
David Horowitz
Don Imus
James F. Inhofe
Jesse Jackson
Philip E. Johnson
Daryn Kagan
Joe Klein
Phil Kline
Ron Klink
William Kristol
Ken Lay
Joe Lieberman
Rush Limbaugh
Trent Lott
Frank Luntz


"American Fundamentalists"
by Joel Pelletier
(click on image for more info)


Chris Matthews
Mitch McConnell
Stephen C. Meyer (DI)
Judith Miller (ex-NYT)
Zell Miller
Tom Monaghan
Sun Myung Moon
Roy Moore
Dick Morris
Rupert Murdoch
Ralph Nader
John Negroponte
Grover Norquist
Robert Novak
Ted Olson
Elspeth Reeve (TNR)
Bill O'Reilly
Martin Peretz (TNR)
Richard Perle
Ramesh Ponnuru
Ralph Reed
Pat Robertson
Karl Rove
Tim Russert
Rick Santorum
Richard Mellon Scaife
Antonin Scalia
Joe Scarborough
Susan Schmidt (WaPo)
Bill Schneider
Al Sharpton
Ron Silver
John Solomon (WaPo)
Margaret Spellings
Kenneth Starr
Randall Terry
Clarence Thomas
Richard Thompson (TMLC)
Donald Trump
Richard Viguere
Donald Wildmon
Paul Wolfowitz
Bob Woodward (WaPo)
John Yoo
guest-blogging
All the fine sites I've
guest-blogged for:




Be sure to visit them all!!
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Poulenc - Piano Music

Pop Ambient 2007
influences
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Fela
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Frank Herbert
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Yes
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© 2003-2008
Ed Fitzgerald

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