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Oct
18
Matt Bai, Barak Obama and the lack of pathetic neediness
Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaigning, Civil Rights, Elections, Gender, Government, John McCain, Ohio, Politics, Primary, Race, Social Issues, Voting, WH2008, Writing | Comments Off
Featured story by Matt Bai with this cover photo:
The article is worth the full read, but here are a few preliminary thoughts:
When I was interviewed by the BBC on Friday and they asked about the importance of Ohio, I specifically reference the 50-state plan. Bai does too. For example:
For Obama’s political advisers, expanding the electoral map is not about making a philosophical statement; it is simply a strategic imperative. Presidential campaigns, after all, are about getting to 270 — the minimum number of electoral votes needed to win. In relying on the same 20 or so winnable states over the past few elections, Democratic nominees have given themselves almost no margin for error. By contrast, Obama’s campaign, in addition to fighting for the usual complement of about a dozen swing states, has shifted considerable resources into a group of states — the list has, at one time or another, included Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Georgia — that haven’t been strongly contested for at least three elections, if not longer. (Alaska was on the list, too, until McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate.) The idea here is that the more states you put in play, the more permutations there are that lead to victory.
Also, given McCain surrogate Nancy Pfotenhauer’s comments about how Northern Virginia isn’t really Virginia because, you know, it’s not southern (just go read what she said), Bai’s riffs on Obama’s efforts in that state are interesting.
If you’ve read other writing by Bai on the subject of the elections, the tone of this feature won’t surprise you: I find it to be one of reluctant respect for his subject, Obama. For example:
…Obama has differentiated himself from recent Democrats by conveying a sense of inner security that is highly unusual in a business of people who have chosen to spend every day asking people to love them. He does not seem like a candidate who’s going to switch to earth tones in his middle age or who’s going to start dressing up in camouflage to rediscover his inner Rambo. Obama is content to meet the world on his terms, and something about that inspires confidence.
And yet that same lack of pathetic neediness may in fact be a detriment when it comes to persuading voters who, culturally or ideologically, just aren’t predisposed to like him….
Since when, in any situation, is a “lack of pathetic neediness” a detriment to persuading voters? Bai looks to Bill Clinton as someone who used his possession of a “pathetic neediness” as a way of persuading voters. But Clinton’s pathetic neediness – which I believe he does in fact possess – was also his downfall and a permanent scar on his legacy. I do not buy it – all things being equal, I’ll take the president without the pathetic neediness any day and work with him or her to find another tool in the skill set to persuade voters.
Finally, I had an e-mail exchange with Matt Bai two years ago in which the topic of identity politics came up and so it’s fascinating for me to comparte what he wrote then with what he’s written since. I confess, I’ve e-mailed the exchange back to him a couple of times because of the irony.
My sense is, especially after reading this most recent piece, that, not unlike many of us, Bail also wishes and/or struggles with the fact – as does Obama, despite his calmness – that race and gender continue to impact decision-making, on an individual level and societal level. We wish it weren’t so, we know it shouldn’t be so, but it is. It simply cannot be avoided – whether you embrace identity politics or not.
And in the end, that’s what I think Bai’s feature is all about.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:17 pm October 18th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Civil Rights, Elections, Gender, Government, John McCain, Ohio, Politics, Primary, Race, Social Issues, Voting, WH2008, Writing | Comments Off
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Oct
18
NYT Magazine Q&A w/Saakashvili: cannot see Alaska from Georgia
Filed Under Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, George Bush, John McCain, Media, Politics, Sarah Palin | Comments Off
Very cute interview in tomorrow’s New York Times Magazine. An excerpt:
Did you watch our presidential debates? It sometimes seems like the one subject the candidates agreed on is the necessity of supporting your country, a former Soviet satellite state that has recently been warring with Russia. I was personally very surprised that the candidates were so passionate about Georgia. Of course, John McCain has been many times to Georgia and knows it firsthand. Obama said absolutely all the right things.
How often do you talk to the candidates on the phone? Pretty often. And I think they are very competent.
…
Do you think Georgia will be accepted into NATO in December, when the next vote is scheduled? It’s the $100 million question. I was reassured by Senator Obama, who said that we should have a NATO Membership Action Plan. Whether we get it, we’ll see.
What do you think of Sarah Palin? When she was nominated, she called me. She was lively, she was interactive, she was engaged.
Can she see Georgia from her front porch? No, we are looking in different directions. With the most powerful binoculars, I cannot see Alaska.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:19 pm October 18th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, George Bush, John McCain, Media, Politics, Sarah Palin | Comments Off
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Oct
18
Michele Bachmann on radio tomorrow; Hardball appearance transcript
Filed Under Campaigning, Debates, Media, Politics, Republicans | Comments Off
Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachman (R-6) will be on WCCO tomorrow morning. You can listen live from here if you’re so inclined. She’s increased her profile as a result of appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews last night and stating that “the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?” In other words, she would like to engage in McCarthyism.
You can read the transcript of her appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews here. Some of the key passages:
MR. MATTHEWS: If you have liberal views, does that mean you have anti-American views? What’s the connection? I don’t get the connection. What’s the connection between liberal and leftist and anti-American?
REP. BACHMANN: Anti-American is the point, because –
MR. MATTHEWS: I mean, if you’re liberal, are you anti-American?
REP. BACHMANN: Well, the liberals that are Jeremiah Wright and that are Bill Ayers, they’re over-the-top anti-American. And that’s the question that Americans have. Remember, it was Michelle Obama who said she’s only recently proud of her country. And so these are very anti-American views.
And here:
MR. MATTHEWS: So this is a character issue. You believe that Barack Obama may — you’re suspicious because of this relationship — may have anti-American views. Otherwise it’s probably irrelevant to this discussion.
REP. BACHMANN: Absolutely.
MR. MATTHEWS: So you believe it brings into –
REP. BACHMANN: I absolutely –
MR. MATTHEWS: So you believe that Barack Obama may have anti- American views.
REP. BACHMANN: Absolutely. I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views. That’s what the American people are concerned about. That’s why they want to know what his answers are….
And:
MR. MATTHEWS: Sarah Palin was around today talking about pro- American parts of America, and assuming there’s other non-parts of the country. What parts of America would you say are anti-American? What parts of this country?
REP. BACHMANN: Well, I would say that people who hold anti- American views. I don’t think it’s geography. I think it’s people who don’t like America, who detest America. And on college campuses, a Ward Churchill, another college campus, a Bill Ayers, you find people who hate America. And unfortunately, some of these people have positions teaching in institutions of higher learning. But you’ll find them in all walks of life all throughout America.
And finally:
MR. MATTHEWS: How many Congress people, members of Congress, do you think are in that anti-American crowd you described? How many Congress people do you serve with? I mean, it’s 435 members of Congress.
REP. BACHMANN: Right now –
MR. MATTHEWS: How many are anti-American in the Congress right now that you serve with?
REP. BACHMANN: You’d have to ask them, Chris. I’m focusing on Barack Obama and the people that he’s been associating with. And I’m very worried about –
MR. MATTHEWS: But do you suspect that a lot of people you serve with –
REP. BACHMANN: — their anti-American nature.
MR. MATTHEWS: Well, he’s a United States senator from Illinois. He’s one of the people you suspect as being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti- American? You’ve already suspected Barack Obama. Is he alone, or are there others? How many do you suspect of your colleagues as being anti-American?
REP. BACHMANN: What I would say — what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think people would love to see an expose like that.
This actually reminds me of the problems with the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorist Act which requires someone to define what exactly is radical behavior. Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:57 pm October 18th, 2008 in Campaigning, Debates, Media, Politics, Republicans | Comments Off
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Oct
18
Bachmann’s anti-American fears instigate more than $400k in contributions to her opponent
Filed Under Campaigning, Congress, Democrats, Elections, Government, Politics, Republicans | 3 Comments
It’s unlikely that the American media will produce the “penetrating exposé” into whether members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America” that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) called for Friday, but there has been at least one consequence she may not have expected: Her congressional opponent, Democrat El Tinklenberg, has been showered with cash from all parts of the country — America, that is — as apparently insulted Americans respond to Bachmann’s request.
“I can absolutely confirm that we have had in the last 24 hours donations from hundreds and hundreds of people from all over the country,” said Tinklenberg campaign manager Anna Richey. “It’s coming in so fast I can’t get a hold on it and can’t give a precise number. It’s still coming in.” At minimum, she said, $150,000 has so far been donated and she expects the total, which the campaign will release later today, to be far higher.
…
Update: $438,346.57. That’s how much El Tinklenberg says has flooded in so far. He’s aiming for half a million.
Previous post about Michele Bachmann (video included) and her request that the media do an expose on Democratic and liberal legislators because they may be anti-American here.
Information on her opponent, El Tinklenberg, here.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:17 pm October 18th, 2008 in Campaigning, Congress, Democrats, Elections, Government, Politics, Republicans | 3 Comments
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Oct
18
Hamilton County, Ohio prosecutor & McCain SW Ohio campaign chair supboenas voter records
Filed Under Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | 3 Comments
Remember the request of Republican Sheriff of Greene County, Ohio for 302 voter registration records – the request he eventually withdrew?
Well, now we have Hamilton County, Ohio prosecutor and McCain campaign Southwest Ohio’s chair, Joe Deters, supboening voter registration records. From Local 12:
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has issued a subpoena for registration records for about 40 percent of the 671 voters who registered and voted at the same time between September 30th and October 6th.
“We’ve had multiple complaints,” Deters told Local 12 News. He said he could not elaborate on the nature of the complaints, or who filed them, because his office is in the middle of an investigation. “We will get to the bottom of this,” he said. The information will be presented to the grand jury.
Deters also serves as John McCain’s southwest Ohio campaign chairman. “This is not a partisan issue. I have no idea who those people voted for,” Deters said.
It was unclear why the subpoena – which also calls upon the county’s director and deputy director to testify before the grand jury – doesn’t ask for records of all voters from the weeklong window. The subpoena calls for the election board to provide all the personal information voters provided when they registered.
The fraud allegations that led to the Hamilton County grand jury investigation did not come from local election officials, county elections board Deputy Director John Williams said.
Williams said he doesn’t know what spurred the investigation.
The Akron Beacon Journal has more.
Ohio State University law professor Dan Tokaji, an elections expert, said the action by Deters is troubling.
“This is extremely worrisome when a partisan official engages in conduct that could reasonably be interpreted as voter intimidation and voter suppression,” Tokaji said. “This appears to be part of a concerted strategy on the part of some elements of the Republican Party to exaggerate voting fraud in an effort to suppress participation.”
Absolutely unbelievable. Wouldn’t you at least think that the county’s election board would either know or be told about the complaints, if they were real and legitimate? What voter goes to the prosecutor only?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:45 pm October 18th, 2008 in Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | 3 Comments
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Oct
18
Jill Biden hosts conference call w/women bloggers
Filed Under Barack Obama, Blogging, BlogHer, Education, Jill Biden, Joe Biden, Parenting, Politics, Vice President, WH2008 | Comments Off
You can read a live-blog of the call, which took place yesterday, at Momocrats. Some highlights, from the report back of call participant Professor Kim Pearson:
- On promoting literacy: Jill Biden started the Book Buddies program to get kids reading at younger ages. She added that the Obama-Biden education plan would boost funding for early childhood education, technology in schools and the mandates embedded in the No Child Left Behind law.
- On education for special needs children: She teaches many special needs students. The teachers need to have training. As a college teacher she has no training on how to teach a student with autism, for example.
- On freeing up teachers to teach: When Biden taught public schools, she had 35 students. We have to give teachers smaller classes so they can pay more attention to individual students. “I’m thrilled for all of the teachers in America… because somebody is finally going to say we can do better in this country.”
- On her husband’s commitment to women: He wrote the Violence Against Women Act; he supports choice. He would bring that commitment to his role in assisting with Supreme Court nominations.
- On reducing truancy and stemming the rising dropout rate: Biden’s dissertation was on student retention at the community college level, but she saw similar issues as a high school teacher. She supports mentoring programs for at-risk youth. She also supports Obama and Biden’s call for greater parental involvement, including providing online access to students’ attendance records and having parents sign contracts that spell out their role in supporting their children’s education.
- On technology in education: Technology is supposed to enhance education, not be education. Barack is working on funding for more technology, but also funding for more teachers.
Erin Kotecki Vest, Political Director of BlogHer.com, remarked about the call:
I had just come from working in my son’s kindergarten, others on the call mentioned they were in the car with their kids…it was all very comfortable knowing what those of us had to balance just to make the conference call.
Having been interviewed by the BBC on the same day during a lunch with my kids at The Pancake House (I scooted to a separate section of the restaurant where no one had been seated while my kids played Hangman on a chalkboard), I understand 100% what Vest means. Many thanks to Jill Biden and the bloggers for taking the time to talk about education.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:17 pm October 18th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Blogging, BlogHer, Education, Jill Biden, Joe Biden, Parenting, Politics, Vice President, WH2008 | Comments Off
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Oct
18
Group paid by Republicans allegedly dupes people into registering for GOP
Filed Under Democrats, Elections, Ohio, Republicans, Voting, WH2008 | 6 Comments
Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.
Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.
Investigations have been ongoing elsewhere:
It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party — a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states — has been accused of using the tactic across the country.
Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Ventura counties say they are investigating complaints about the company.
The firm, which a Republican Party spokesman said is paid $7 to $12 for each registration it secures, has denied any wrongdoing and says it has never been charged with a crime.
The 70,000 voters YPM has registered for the Republican Party this year will help combat the public perception that it is struggling amid Democratic gains nationally, give a boost to fundraising efforts and bolster member support for party leaders, political strategists from both parties say.
FYI, ACORN does not pay its canvassers per registration.
What’s the impact if you signed up with YPM:
Those who were formerly Democrats may stop receiving phone calls and literature from that party, perhaps affecting its get-out-the-vote efforts. They also will be given only a Republican ballot in the next primary election if they do not switch their registration back before then.
Some also report having their registration status changed to absentee without their permission; if they show up at the polls without a ballot they may be unable to vote.
The Times randomly interviewed 46 of the hundreds of voters whose election records show they were recently re-registered as Republicans by YPM, and 37 of them — more than 80% — said that they were misled into making the change or that it was done without their knowledge.
And none of this is new:
It all sounds familiar to Beverly Hill, a Democrat and the former election supervisor in Florida’s Alachua County. About 200 voters — mostly college students — were unwittingly registered as Republicans there in 2004 by YPM staffers using the same tactic, Hill said.
“It is just incredible that this can keep happening election after election,” she said.
…
Two years ago, Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas charged 12 workers for a petitioning firm hired by the local Republican Party with fraudulently registering voters as Republican.
For more information on Young Political Majors:
Florida students complain of being duped to change party affiliation
Here’s one of several job postings with promises of how much money you can make in just a few short hours!
More specific reports of YPM encounters in CA
These stories also make me really glad that in Ohio, we don’t register by party.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:46 pm October 18th, 2008 in Democrats, Elections, Ohio, Republicans, Voting, WH2008 | 6 Comments
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Oct
18
Franklin County could be key to Obama win in Ohio
Filed Under Barack Obama, Elections, Independents, Ohio, Politics, Poll, Republicans, Voting, WH2008, Women | Comments Off
A Politico/InsiderAdvantage survey reveals that in key counties of four swing states, Barack Obama’s numbers look strong and determinative. The counties profiled are: Bucks County, PA; St. Louis County, MO, Prince William County, VA and Franklin County, OH. As noted at the end, the samples were rather small, so keep that in mind.
From Politico:
In Ohio’s Franklin County, the state’s second-most populous county after Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County [where I live], Obama leads by a narrower 45 percent to 40 percent margin. Kerry carried Franklin County 54 percent to 45 percent in 2004.
InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt Towery explained Obama’s success in these areas is a result of his strength among independents and voters between the ages of 30 and 44.
“That is the most angry group of voters that we have this year, with regard to the Republicans,” Towery said. “I see that in almost every poll I look at.”
…
In central Ohio’s Franklin County, [Obama] takes 30-to-44-year-olds by a smaller, but still decisive 49 percent to 34 percent gap, and wins independents, 43 percent to 19 percent.
I’m guessing that the call from MN Congresswoman Michele Bachmann to have legislators to be investigated as to whether they’re anti-American is not going to help the GOP with Independents.
Women:
In Bucks [County, PA], [Obama] has just a 4-point edge with female voters, compared with a 16-point spread in the Columbus, Ohio, area.
Methodology etc.:
The Politico/InsiderAdvantage telephone surveys in St. Louis County and Franklin County were conducted Oct. 13. The St. Louis County survey included 542 likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. The Franklin survey included 376 likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percent.
The Politico/InsiderAdvantage telephone surveys in Bucks County and Prince William County were conducted Oct. 14. The Bucks survey included 320 likely voters and the Prince William survey included 308 likely voters, both with a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percent.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:03 pm October 18th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Elections, Independents, Ohio, Politics, Poll, Republicans, Voting, WH2008, Women | Comments Off
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Oct
18
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner on Rachel Maddow last night
Filed Under Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Ohio, Politics, WH2008 | 3 Comments
Yesterday, I posted a flurry of entries about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in favor of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner over the Ohio Republican Party’s challenges related to voter registrations, voter fraud, voter suppression and those issues’ impact on the current election cycle. Brunner specifically addresses McCain campaign director Rick Davis’ assertion of partisanship.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:10 pm October 18th, 2008 in Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Ohio, Politics, WH2008 | 3 Comments
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Oct
18
Website in support of censuring Michele Bachman has +10k names
Filed Under Crime, Culture, Government, Law, Politics, Republicans, Social Issues | 10 Comments
Chances are that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann will want all the folks who sign the censure petition to be investigated as anti-American. But here it is for those interested.
What exactly is involved in censuring?
Here’s Wikipedia’s explanation, though it’s not that complete.
Here’s a more complete list of links about censure but some are stale – they seem to date back to the impeachment process of President Bill Clinton.
This Hartford Courant column from last month puts censure into context for the present time. It explores Connecticut politicians’ desires to censure CT U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman. Some of the info on censure offered:
A group of prominent Democratic state legislators, state central committee members and local town committee members have introduced a resolution to be voted on tonight in Hartford to censure U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Censure is a serious form of discipline that deliberative bodies use to punish or rebuke members of the organization. This resolution calls on the state central committee, of which I am a member, to “publicly censure and repudiate the words and actions” of Sen. Lieberman and to “ask him to resign from the party.”
Such a rebuke should follow a serious breach of the public trust — such as an official convicted of a serious crime. And so, what was Sen. Lieberman’s crime that warrants this censure? He gave a speech at the Republican National Convention praising Republican John McCain and criticizing Democrat Barack Obama. And although this speech caused many Democrats to be justifiably upset, the speech was not a hateful speech nor did it provoke Americans to resort to violence. It was not a speech that could, in some way, be deemed to threaten national security. It offended Connecticut Democrats, however, because Sen. Lieberman is, well, a registered Democrat and because his career was built on many years of support from the party faithful. Lieberman has further angered this group by “actively campaigning” for McCain.
So – was there a serious breach of the public trust? Was it hateful speech? Did it provoke Americans to resort to violence? Is it speech that could be deemed to threaten national security?
But this too is at a state legislative level, not a national, congressional level.
Ohio initiated impeachment proceedings against Mark Dann and that move raised many questions about what is impeachable behavior.
Is Michelle Bachmann’s desire that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and other Democrats in the U.S. Congress be investigated for anti-American behavior something that you believe is censurable behavior?
I actually have not yet signed the petition. Because I’m not sure. What do people think? I think what she’s said is vile, explicitly and implicitly. Dissent is the raison d’etre of democracy. But to listen to Bachmann, you’d think dissent was a capital crime.
What do you think?
For someone who belongs to a party that does not want to make hate speech a prosecutable offense because it penalizes thought, Bachmann’s charge against people with opinions different from hers is truly nonsensical and hypocritcal.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:55 am October 18th, 2008 in Crime, Culture, Government, Law, Politics, Republicans, Social Issues | 10 Comments
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Oct
18
Analysis by AP eviscerates McCain campaign which “lurches” to survive
Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaigning, leadership, Media, Politics, WH2008 | Comments Off
Read the entire piece here. The quotes that support AP writer Beth Fouhy’s conclusions (so that she isn’t, you know, being conclusory), are sigh-inducing:
“When you run a campaign without a strategy and everything becomes tactical and your tactics don’t work, you respond by finding other tactics,” Republican consultant Ed Rollins said. “Unfortunately, that’s helped Barack paint the guy who is clearly better prepared to be commander in chief as erratic and not stable.”
“It’s the thrashing between the events you can’t control and what the proper message for the campaign should be,” [Republican pollster John] McLaughlin said. “In the past week, we’ve seen the McCain campaign thrashing.”
As for the lurching:
In an interview with a North Carolina television station this week, the Arizona senator said he didn’t know when he would return to the battleground state. “You know, my schedule lurches from day to day,” he said, an edge in his voice.
My cousin who is a PsyD wrote me the following a few weeks ago:
John McCain is a “survivor” no different than a person who spent time in, and survived to tell the tale of one of the Nazi extermination camps. He faced misery, pain, and death each day. Torture came directly and viscerally as well as indirectly in watching others suffer unspeakable and unthinkable inhumane acts and experiencing loss of friends and loved ones.
In order to survive you begin to live hour to hour, minute to minute, day to day. You shorten your vision and put all your energy into self preservation. When you leave the camp you take that with you. It stays with you and reshapes how you perceive, process, and reason, react and act. Your thoughts and responses. In some cases it governs the survivors life. IN others you begin to reassimilate ands acclimate and can look like everyone else, however the damage runs deep and is done. SUCH DAMAGE IS AGAIN MOST OBVIOUS WHEN STRESSED OR THREATENED.
Thus we have John McCain. His tenacious and impulsive, gambler’s personality is probably nature.
However when under stress and feeling threatened his perspective shortens and narrows and he goes into survival mode, making unilateral decisions designed to get him to the next day. What seems reckless and impulsive, and makes little sense to the rest of us, is survival instinct cultivated and solidified during his time at the Hanoi Hilton. Such is fine for one man’s survival, but is dangerous when leading others. Judgment based on survival without thought of ramifications and the big picture is dangerous. SUCH IS John McCain.
I believe that analysis could not be more accurate and aligns exactly with what Fouhy wrote and her quotes support. Likewise, all the endorsements coming in cite to the same behaviors. My cousin just put a clinical analysis on it.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:12 am October 18th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, leadership, Media, Politics, WH2008 | Comments Off
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Oct
18
[video] Gergen Love Gone Wild
Filed Under Blogging, Culture, Humor, leadership, Media, Politics, Writing | Comments Off
First of all, I want to be on the record for declaring my love for David Gergen, on this blog, in this post April 21, 2006 post.
But now, if you go to summize.com and put in “Gergen”? Look what you get: tweet after love-filled tweet for David Gergen (except for the Newsbusters links because they think Gergen reads from liberal talking points, but they think everyone reads from liberal talking points; wonder what they have to say about Michael Smerconish endorsing Obama).
Not only that, but check out this great clip from Anderson Cooper’s show about just how rampant Gergen love is:
Here’s Jessi Klein’s column in Tina Brown’s new media vehicle, The Daily Beast. An excerpt:
How do I love David Gergen? Let me count the ways.
I love his low, quiet voice. That unmodulated buttery whisper that sounds like it’s elbowing its way past a cough drop that’s permanently lodged at the back of his throat. You know how Bed Bath & Beyond sells those white noise machines that help you sleep? And they usually make ocean noises? I want one that’s just David Gergen gently muttering about the economy.
I love the way Gergen makes me feel calm, even when he’s making dire predictions about the future of our country. I love the way he knows everything and then formulates an opinion about everything that’s always right. I love that his eyebrows only move when he gets mad, and I love that he almost never gets mad. I love that he looks like a handsome baked potato. I want him to analyze my life with the same subtle intelligence he uses to analyze politics. How can I make my kitchen brighter? Should I email that dum-dum of a guy I know or just leave it in my draft folder? Should I get a bob or is my hair better long?
Mmm. I know exactly what she means.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:52 am October 18th, 2008 in Blogging, Culture, Humor, leadership, Media, Politics, Writing | Comments Off
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Oct
18
Conservative talk radio host Smerconish endorses Obama
Filed Under Barack Obama, Endorsements, John McCain, Media, Politics, Voting | Comments Off
You can listen here: listen here.
First time in his life as a Republican, from Political Punch:
Smerconish did so by reading a couple paragraphs from his pending op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“I’ve decided,” he said. “My conclusion comes after reading the candidates’ memoirs and campaign platforms, attending both party conventions, interviewing both men multiple times, and watching all primary and general election debates.
“John McCain is an honorable man who has served his country well. But he will not get my vote. For the first time since registering as a Republican 28 years ago, I’m voting for a Democrat for president.
“I may have been an appointee in the George H.W. Bush administration, and master of ceremonies for George W. Bush in 2004, but last Saturday I stood amidst the crowd at an Obama event in North Philadelphia,” says the Republican.
Smerconish has given us some more from his op-ed:
“Terrorism. The candidates disagree as to where to prosecute the war against Islamic fundamentalists. Barack Obama is correct in saying the front line in that battle is not Iraq, it’s the Afghan-Pakistan border. Osama bin Laden crossed that border from Tora Bora in December 2001, and we stopped pursuit. The Bush administration outsourced the hunt for bin Laden and, instead, invaded Iraq.
“No one in Iraq caused the death of 3,000 Americans on 9/11. Our invasion was based on a false predicate, so we have no business being there, regardless of whether the surge is working. Our focus must be the tribal-ruled FATA region in Pakistan. Only recently has our military engaged al-Qaeda there in operations that mirror those Obama was ridiculed for recommending in August 2007.
“Last spring, Obama told me, ‘It’s not that I was opposed to war [in Iraq]. It’s that I felt we had a war that we had not finished.’ Even Sen. Joe Lieberman conceded to me just last Friday that ‘the headquarters of our opposition, our enemies today,’ is the FATA.”
Hattip to Donklephant.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:14 am October 18th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Endorsements, John McCain, Media, Politics, Voting | Comments Off
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