Friday, August 29, 2008

INTERESTING MOVE

This is getting to be a pretty interesting game of chess. Not to carry that analogy too far (nor could I) but if Obama and McCain both lost one of their bishops early on (Wright and Hagee, or however you spell the name of the McCain preacher who called the Catholic Church the “Whore of Babylon” and the Pope the anti-Christ) and each lost a knight (was her name Samantha Powers, that brilliant Obama advisor who made the mistake of calling Hilary something nasty in an interview in England, and the McCain advisor who was still working as a lobbyist (one of way too many on his staff)), and McCain’s campaign has been aiming an all out assault on Obama’s front ranks, the pawns in the game, and Obama took out one of McCain’s castles (rooks) with his speech last night (or maybe both of them it was so good), then McCain’s choice of VP has checked Obama’s queen, not taken her, but has her temporarily blocked.

Okay, enough chess. The point is, it’s an interesting counter attack by McCain’s camp. It satisfies the Republican base, she’s about as conservative as you can get on the Republican side, and it satisfies the oil companies that control the Republican party hierarchy, or are it, since she’s big on drilling everywhere and anywhere and making our economy like Alaska’s, completely dependent on oil and the oil companies.

But she’s young and attractive, and there’s too many voters in this country who only go by appearances, and iconography, and imagery, something the Republicans learned well and use even better, or had until the last eight years brought about so much dysfunction and failure most voters finally get it.

She’s not dumb either, and they are harping on her supposed reputation as a reformer, though the Alaskan Republican Party machine was the most corrupt in the country according to many reports, and all she did was take on the most obvious unmitigated corruption and hide the rest, including her own attempts to get a state trooper fired because he was involved in a messy divorce with her sister (I think it’s her sister).

She’s also less experienced than almost any public office holder, having only been governor of Alaska for less than two years and Alaska being one of our least populated states with no, as THE DAILY KOS points out today, agriculture to speak of and no urban areas, let alone problems, to speak of, etc.

Before that she was mayor of a town smaller than most lower 48 suburbs. McCain also leaped over other, way more qualified Republican women to choose Palin, and of course many more qualified men.

But, there are probably a fair amount of women who will vote for McCain now simply on the strength of a female on the ticket. And to those who have no idea how conservative McCain already is (many women still think he’s pro-choice even though he isn’t, and Palin is militantly anti-choice, but I doubt the pundits will be talking about that a lot).

Plus McCain and Palin have the gift of less scrutiny and more favorable coverage, despite the rightwing claims that the media is liberal. A myth they have been bale to maintain for too long.

Yes, more reporters identify as liberal on many issues, of course they do, they’re generally well educated intelligent people who are interested in uncovering the truth.

But as someone who has seen articles written about either me personally or projects I have initiated or been involved in, sympathetic and truthful articles written by reporters who interviewed me or observed the project or whatever, and then saw what happened to those articles after the editors (or managers or publishers) altered them to fit their always more rightwing perspective, I know how the media works (let alone all the studies that have been done that bear this out).

While Obama has to navigate a high wire made of dental floss, as my friend Don McGlaughlin put it today at lunch, I added that McCain gets to ride around in a golf cart. I suspect Palin will get the same hands-off treatment.

Oh and did you notice how the talking heads either talked over, or the major networks and cable outlets simply ignored, most of the convention speakers?

The three most poignant moments in last nights activities for me, excluding Obama’s speech, because there were so many poignant moments in that it would be impossible to list them all, were when a long line (thirty or so?) of generals, we’re talking GENERALS and admirals (like McCain’s father and grandfather), many of whom had been supporters of Junior and Cheney, many of whom had not just been involved in the Iraq war, but had actually seen combat there or in the earlier one, etc. stood on the stage as one of them made a brief speech about why they all backed Obama and know he will make a better commander-in-chief than McCain.

Pretty significant for all the naysayers about that. But all these pundits who had been pointing out (ala the Republican machine’s talking point for the day) that Hilary hadn’t said that Obama would make a great commander-in-chief ignored, IGNORED, this array of top military officers saying OBAMA WILL.

I wonder if they’ll do the same for the Republican convention. Any bets?

The second poignant moment was when several ordinary Americans, many of them Republicans until now, told their stories, some great moments among them, the North Carolina nurse whose husband had heart surgery and lost his job and health insurance, the small business owning woman from Florida, the middle America former Republican Barney Smtih who had the great line about how the Republicans care more about Smith Barney than Barney Smith, et. al.

And the third, for me, was when Obama’s family members crowded the stage after his speech, and there was this wonderful array of supposed categories of “Americans” from what is commonly called “white” to” black” to Asian to Latino, but is really just the face of this country not only as it should be, but as it is. Sweet moment.

I have to admit though, for the first time in my life I’m including a politician in my daily prayers, because there’s no way the oil companies that run this administration and have had such a grip on our country for so long and have garnered the largest profits in the history of the world in these recent years are going to give that all up without a struggle, I mean a ruthless, perhaps even lethal battle.

Let’s pray they are smart enough to begin switching to alternative fuels and figuring out a way to make profits on them and aren’t as savage as I’m afraid they might become if their profits are threatened by, well, anything (after all, over four thousand American’s have died and who knows how many hundreds of thousands of other people, in a war that is all about oil, oil that has made Iraq rich while America bleeds money trying to protect what?—the oil there).

6 comments:

Another Lally said...

There was another Big Business lurking in the bacground of Obama's speech. The current crop of community activists (race baiters) reminded Obama that he had no role in or right to the Civil Rights movement. Obama heeding their admonition did not mention Martin Luther King or the "I Have A Dream' speech except in a quick blip. Many black leaders were and still may be puzzled by the 'oversight'.

I'm surprised that you were not impressed with Eisenhower's grand daughter endorsing Obama. Eisenhower , after all, was the first president to act against the segregated south after Brown V. Board (Little Rock Nine - 1957).

Lally said...

Your surprise is just an assumption. I was thoroughly impressed with Ike's granddaughter, another moment most of the media ignored. I was very happy to see her and thought her remarks were perceptive, intelligent and well put. But I was referring to the three moments I personally found most poignant (her appearance came to mind but would have been fourth or fifth on my list for the evening, Stevie Wonder's performance being up there too, as well as Sheryl Crow and several of Al Gore's comments, etc.).
As for some "black" spokespeople who seemed upset over Obama not emphasizing the Martin Luther King "I Had a Dream" speech anniversary, it wasn't as if he ignored it, he referred to it, he just didn't dwell on it, as did most of the media, because he had a job to do and it wasn't to pigeonhole his speech into a "civil rights" or "black history" kind of moment (which my friend Don thinks was what the McCain ad last night was about, i.e. "nice work for a black man" etc.
And by the way, Martin Luther King didn't mention many of the black leaders whose shoulders he was standing on that day in front of the Lincoln memorial. There's always a lot of sour grapes when someone jumps the line, as Obama has done again and again, not bowing to the powers that be either in Chicago or on the national political scene, though he seems very wise in the ways he works with them to get his agenda out there and hopefully carried out, which by the way is far less liberal than it has been protrayed, as one very smart observer put it, he's a Chicago School Democrat, influenced by that conservative economic perspective but still aware only too much from his own background and experiences as an organizer of the problems that need government intervention to be solved, etc.

Another Lally said...

Back then, it was a noble cause. I'm sure many are smiling down on Obama, not the least of which would be A. Philip Randolph and Everet Dirksen.

It's a shame what the Civil Rights movement or lack thereof has become since the 70's for many. Many have taken advantage of the open doors but too many others have chosen not too. The lack of progress for many through the machinations of the media (movies and music especially) is very obvious in how Elvis Presley's song "In The Ghetto" still seems current.

I'll pray that his run is as pure as you believe it to be.

Unknown said...

i don't get it: Mitt's prettier than her!

this ruins my whole conspiracy theory stretching back to the Mormon henchmen of Howard Hughes and the Nixon loan and Watergate . . .

it's all linked if i could only gather the threads of it———

Another Lally said...

Just a reminder

Big Oil is in the oil business.

They don't generate power, that would be the power company. They are the ones who should be developing alternative methods of generating power.

Big Oil doesn't make automobiles, that is the car companies. They should be making fuel efficient cars, and they should be making them in this country.

Big Oil brings us the oil and we make fuel and plastics and lubricants. Without oil, life as we know it cannot exist.

We should be thankful to them for wanting to gather our domestic resources, instead they are villified.

JIm said...

Barack sat and listened to a racist pastor for twenty years and only renounced him when it was going to cost him the nomination. McCain accepted then regected the endorsement of an anti Catholic preacher. John was not one of the congregation.

The crucial difference of her performance as a reformer is that she attacked her own corrupt Republican party members and some of them are in jail now. John and Sarah will attack the earmark culture of Washington. Barack is part of it.

I don't know the full story of her ex brother in law, but I hear he was a hitter. Whether he was or not, just picture how Hillary female supporters will feel about a sister coming to the support of her sister.

Just by acting as mayor of a small town she has more executive experience then Obama and Biden. McCain was the commander of wing in the navy responsible for many lives and billions of dollars of equipment.

As far as media not being liberal, please refer to a previous post showing the statistics of an overwhelming liberal bias of the major media.

For poignant moments, how about a hockey mom accepting the choice of John McCains for VP as one of her five children held infant brother who has Down's syndrone. Whether you are pro choice or pro life, you should at least have great respect for a couple that have the courage of their convictions. Now that is REAL poignancy.