Thanks to McCain, Letterman for the political change-of-pace: humor for a change
Every election campaign offers its share of humor, most of it unintentional, i.e., debate gaffs or stump speech gaffs, even the choices of political candidates running for office.
But it was refreshing last night to watch John McCain's long awaited appearance on David Letterman's show and be treated to some great humor.
Heck, I'm NOT a McCain supporter and I felt a certain sympathy for the poor guy's squirming -- and some admiration for the way he handled the whole situation.
If you aren't familiar with the background on the whole issue, it goes something like this: The night before the first House vote on the economic bailout, McCain was scheduled to be a guest on Letterman's show. One hour before he was to be there, McCain canceled, by calling Letterman and telling him he couldn't make it. He said he was compelled to rush back to Washington and be there to do anything he could to help resolve the looming economic crisis.
A day later, Letterman found out McCain had hung around NYC long enough to be interviewed by CBS Evening News, AND had stayed overnight in a NYC hotel before going to Washington the next morning!
For two or three weeks, Letterman has skewered McCain unmercifully on each night's monologue over the matter. Last night McCain finally appeared on the show.
To howls of laughter and applause all around, he had a simple explanation for the incident. McCain's words: "I screwed up."
Good job by Letterman and McCain last night. If you didn't see the appearance, I urge you to check around the CBS website and YouTube and I'm sure you can find it. I applaud both McCain and Letterman for giving us some great entertainment as Election Day draws near.
I also urge you to get out and vote. I ask you to vote for Obama -- but most of all, I appeal to you to get out and vote. That's a great part of what America is SUPPOSED to be all about, isn't it?
Election Day is coming — be sure you get out and vote!
Thank goodness the American elections are almost over. I hope you'll get out and vote. I don't care who you vote for, as long as you're voting your conscience. That's entirely up to you, but I do urge you to take advantage of this fundamental freedom and vote.
Then, if you're like me, you're going to look for whatever travel deals your budget may allow and get somewhere to relax after such a long election campaign.
Where do you go to relax? The mountains? A beach?
Given our limited budget, the nice little park down the street four blocks may be about all the "travel" my wife and I can afford right now. But we definitely will -- and currently DO! -- enjoy a nice walk to the park from time to time.
Wherever you're living and whatever your doing, I hope you're enjoying the wonderful autumn weather we've been having where I live. And I hope you'll put down that newspaper, turn off that television, and get outside for some exercise and relaxation -- no matter who you vote for!
Lipstick lady did all right in VP debate, I thought
Despite all the silliness since Gov. Palin was named Sen. McCain's running mate, she and Sen. Biden were able to put much of it behind them and give us a good debate last night. Not a GREAT debate, but adequate.
I just saw on CNN where one of the most fun parts of debate viewing might have been people who were playing "Palin Bingo." Someone put together a grid like a Bingo card, using pet phrases from Palin's stump speeches (lipstick on a pit bull, you betcha, etc.), then each phrase she used was covered as it appeared in the debate. (Remember the red flag thrown up when Sen. Obama referred to "lipstick on a pig" and the former Republican governor of Massachusetts was outraged?)
In some ways, Palin's performance encouraged me a bit. I got the feeling she has more intellectual substance than the media and/or "SLN" give her credit for. I seriously doubt she's truly experienced enough to be president -- but she probably could get up to speed in a hurry, should the McCain-Palin ticket triumph and should she suddenly become president.
Now -- that debate is behind us and we need to focus on getting some "band-aids" or an "economic acne treatment" or something helpful done about the economy. Even as I tap this keyboard, I see a quick television report that the bailout bill appears to be passing in the House. Sadly, the already bad legislation was bloated up with added "earmarks" and tax breaks it should have done without -- but at least it's probably the best we can hope for right now.
We'll pay for it, true. But better to pony up this flawed bill than watch the economy drop another couple of TRILLION in investment losses, job losses, credit freezes, etc., like we got on the first House bailout vote.
I think.
What, really, is the best treatment for our economic crises?
With all the talk of the failed bailout, someone needs to ask the question -- What, really, is the best treatment for our economic crises?
In my family, someone very near and dear to me has struggled for a lifetime with severe acne problems. This person has tried just about every "lotion and potion" on the market, with little effect. We've never tried some of the really advanced medical stuff out there like blue light acne treatment, but we have done numerous prescription treatments by a variety of dermatologists -- and all with little lasting effect.
Thinking of our economy in similar terms, perhaps there is no answer to our economic crises. I say "crises" and not "crisis," because there's a lot more going on in our economy besides just this economic bailout. It's all interrelated, but it includes oil prices, energy crises, job losses, inflation, and on and on. Any way, suppose there really IS not good solution to these issues? What do we do next?
I would suggest two things which MUST be done to "save" the American economy: 1) accountability, and, 2) bipartisan politics. Washington leadership, Wall Street leaders, and "Main Street" leaders right down to you and me MUST recognize that policies over the last couple of decades have failed. And politicians cannot find solutions until they forget about labels like "Democrats" and "Republicans" and really start thinking about being Americans.
Seriously, campaign strategies won't get the job done. One of the most idiotic screeds I've read in a long time was a recent Cal Thomas column in which he actually blamed the Democrats for the fundamental economic problems we're facing, saying the seeds of it went back to Carter and Clinton.
Now really, Cal, get serious. If we lay blame for our economic woes at the feet of ex-presidents -- one of whom was in office over 30 years ago! -- instead of holding the present leadership (Democratic AND Republican) accountable, well, it's hard to see how we'll ever find a solution.
We've gotta hang together on this one or we'll all hang separately. (Bad allusion to one of the Founding Fathers' comments -- I forget which one.)
Boneheads in Congress abandoned their leadership roles
It's one thing for us average-know-nothing-much-about-economics Americans to resist a $700+ billion economic bailout plan. It's a different matter for those self-serving boneheads we call Congressmen and Congresswomen to miss the point entirely and vote it down.
My son the investor pointed out to me this evening that an article he read today said we taxpayers have already paid more than $300 billion for one of the recent U.S. bank failures. According to that article, he said, we can expect to fork over two or three times the price of this rejected bailout plan every week for awhile as various banks and investment houses fail and credit tightens to nearly shut down the economy.
But, since the meek little mice we put in Congress are more interested in their party politics and reelection than in doing what's the best available option for the country -- well, let's just say fixings for those favorite Christmas dinner recipes may be a little harder to come by this year.
In fact, multitudes of people will probably be looking at a slim holiday season this year if Congress doesn't show a little backbone and do what has to be done. Oh, and you do understand, right, that every time a major bank shuts down or has to be sold off all those billions of dollars come out of our taxpaying pockets?
Has our economy fundamentally changed, or have people just dropped the ball?
I've often thought that people who are surprised by national events are generally just people who are ignorant of our nation's history. It's all happened before, really, hasn't it?
This is a presidential election year so, of course, both major political parties are jockeying to make THEIR party look like the "good guys" on the economy and the other guys look like, well, the "bad guys" -- and notice, also how the major issue right now is not the war in Iraq, not security against terrorism. It has turned into a battle over the economy and the horrendous crisis America is in economically.
Perhaps you think the economy is fundamentally sound? After all, no one has officially declared this a "Recession," have they? If you believe that, you have my sympathy. As one of cable TV "economic experts" put it the other day, the government engineered $700 billion + "bailout" is not good -- but it is necessary to avert "Great Depression II."
What has happened in America? Or what IS happening? Are we undergoing some fundamental sort of change in our governmental agencies, our social institutions, our economy, our very way of life?
Nope. I don't think so. I think we're merely experiencing what we have always experienced throughout the history of our country -- only on a larger, more public scale. There have always been greedy people, stupid people, incompetent people in America. I will admit I personally don't recall such a time when so many greedy, stupid, incompetent people have been in positions of power all at the same time, but perhaps I just wasn't paying attention in the past.
This nation has always, I repeat, ALWAYS been run by a coalition of big business and lawyers. Sure, we've had a wide range of politicians and "celebrities" in visible leadership. But just take a look at the events that have gone on to shape our country. You'll find that, for the most part, that old adage attributed (I think) to President Coolidge (maybe Harding, but I think Coolidge) has always been true: "The business of America has always been business."
We live in the only nation in history that has a whole subculture of specialized lawyers making a handsome living on everything from Mesothelioma lawyer, to "slip-and-fall" lawsuits, to good old fashioned "ambulance chasers" who advertise on television that they can get you top dollar for anything that MIGHT ail you. Got a problem? Got even a potential problem? Wake up feeling miffed or upset at someone this morning? File a lawsuit. It's pretty much your "God given" right in America, right along with the nearly sacred "right" we have to own assault rifles, both to be used liberally should our neighbors fail to love us as they should.
Sorry, I didn't intend to rant along expressing myself with bad sarcasm. So I'll get right to the point remaining: If anything has "changed" in America it would be the increased apathy with which the average American citizen/voter regards the government. Our present economic crisis has come about because of massive failure on the part of all the agencies and individuals who are supposed to be policing private industry, i.e., government regulators you and I are paying nice salaries to so they will oversee the credit industry, the stock markets, etc. But I guess in the George Bush Administration (FOR MOST OF THE LAST EIGHT YEARS!!), nobody's been minding the store.
Get out and vote in November. Do your part to take out the trash.
If we elect McCain-Palin, the joke’s on US!
If Americans, through apathy or idiocy, elect the McCain-Palin ticket in November, the jokes on all of us. Presidential campaigns and political campaigns in general are usually built upon various layers of lunacy. But this McCain-Palin Republican presidential ticket is the mother of all multi-layer political cakes.
In the first place, you've got a guy, Sen. John McCain, heading the ticket who's been a "Washington insider," i.e., since 1982 he has served first as a congressman and now a senator, portraying himself as some sort of "maverick" who'd work not for the party first but for America First. He decries Washington politics (which he has been a major player in shaping since 1982) -- and, by God, he insists he means it!
The next thing this maverick warrior of the people does is find someone highly qualified to lead the nation, should anything happen to him as president: Gov. Sarah Palen of Alaska. The good (?) governor has been shaped in the forge of high-level Alaskan policy, having earlier served as mayor of a town there of about 9,000 people -- oh, and, uh, she's under investigation within the state of Alaska for possible ethics questions related to possibly using her influence to get an ex-brother-in-law fired from the State Patrol (or whatever Alaska's name for it is). Never mind that the good senator has spent several MONTHS insisting that Sen. Barack Obama is very lightweight on the experience score, and really, pretty young to be taking on something as important as president. (For the record, Obama is actually OLDER than Palen.)
Finally, Sen. McCain, Gov. Palen, and all the delegates at the GOP Convention gave each other standing ovations and congrats all around for their astute grasp of our nation's needs. Palen was applauded as though she were the Second Coming of Christ -- despite MONTHS of patter from McCain and the GOP that a major fault against Obama is that he's a "rock star" or "celebrity" -- AND THE ENTIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY SEES NO INCONSISTENCIES, NO HYPOCRISY IN ANY OF THIS????????
Sorry. Got carried away there. I'm 61 years old. I began voting the first election I was old enough to do so -- 21 at that time, in 1968 -- and I've never missed voting in a presidential election. For many years, I was a dutiful nod-my-head-slack-jawed-and-vote-Republican/Christian-conservative. Then I did the unforgivable for the GOP/Christian/Conservative camp: I started paying attention and THINKING about what's going on in this country.
I have concluded that, 1) ALL politicians of ANY political party will ALWAYS say just what they think you want them to say to get your vote, and, 2) of the major parties in this country (both) that are, so to speak "full of it," the GOP -- especially under this dual ticket from circus world -- is MORE full of it generally speaking. And they are several layers of B.S. beyond believable this year.
My apologies for getting so carried away. It's the absolute, bold and blatant hypocrisy of this year's Republican ticket that just leaves me speechless and makes me rant so.
Ah, well, what do I know? I'm just a guy who reads the papers.
Sarah Palen’s candidacy is the most patronizing selection ever made by a presidential candidate
If I were a woman voter, I would be outraged by Sen. John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's selection as his vice presidential running mate. Heck, I'm not a woman voter and I'm STILL outraged.
For months now, McCain and his goofy campaign have been both implying and outright saying that Sen. Barak Obama is too young and too inexperienced to be president of the United States. That's absolutely been their outcry, along with the idea that his popularity (celebrityhood seems to be their preferred take on that, or "rock star" status?) somehow makes him unqualified. They have said this in every campaign commercial, including the ones that ran during the Democratic National Convention in Denver last week. McCain himself has said this again and again in stump speeches.
BUT -- apparently sensing a chance to grab some confused and/or disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters -- McCain and/or his advisers (who knows how the decision was made) startled the world with their announcement that Palin was his pick. If that's not an obviously patronizing to women voters of America, I don't know what is??
And here's my favorite part: She was born in 1964; Obama was born in 1961. So she's younger than Obama. She's had virtually no political experience. I'm not certain about this, but I think she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (where??), also served on the Wasilla town council, and she's been governor since 2006. Uh, experienced or inexperienced? You decide.
John McCain would have been hard pressed to find someone so spectacularly UNPREPARED to be president of the United States had he intentional set out to find someone unprepared.
Yet, with a sincere, straightforward look, I heard Sen. McCain proudly explain to one of the network media people in an interview today or yesterday that she is an excellent, highly qualified candidate.
I wanted to reach through my television screen and try to slap a little sense into the old boy -- or at least wipe the goofy smile off his face. PREPARED????? QUALIFIED????
Sen. McCain, you do realize we're talking about a person who could be one heart beat away from the presidency, don't you?????????????????????????????????????????
Ah, well. What do I know? I'm just a guy who reads the papers. Should McCain and Palin win in November, maybe I'll look at the idea of immigrating to a quiet village in Canada ...
[tags]Sarah Palin, John McCain, idiotic candidacy, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
Somewhere between religious extremes lies the real Candidate Palin
I've been a "religious" person all my life, and that ranges from the fundamentalist evangelicalism and Pentecostalism of my teen and early adult years all the way over to the more "mainstream" and even "liberal" beliefs of my current Episcopalian/ECLA Lutheran spiritual journey.
I've mumbled and grumbled about religion off and on in this website, so I was thinking of such matters when I heard Sen. John McCain's pick for his presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- who comes from an extremely conservative political and evangelical religious background. Having said all that, I'll try to convey my honest opinion of her as a candidate. I can't speak of her as a person because all I know about her is what I've read in the media and on the Internet.
I can tell you this: In the conservative evangelical spectrum there are varying viewpoints about women. On the far right, proper or "righteous" women are seen almost as some sort of pure, surreal human equivalents of "Votive candle holders," i.e., they exist primarily to carry prayers and blessings between God and their husbands/families. Sort of like human equivalents of angels. On the far left (okay, so "far left" is too extreme for ANY range of the fundamentalist/evangelical/Pentecostal spectrum) side of evangelicalism, righteous women are treated with dignity and equality with men, i.e., they are able to be ordained to ministry, teach in churches and/or Bible schools and seminaries, etc.
Somewhere in the middle between human equivalents of angels and humans on an equal par with men is where the vast majority of evangelicals place women. Those who treat women as "second class citizens" or restrict them from ordained ministry really do represent a dying faction.
And I suspect that Gov. Palin, religiously speaking, is closer to the mid-range of that spectrum than the toward the far right. Admittedly, this is based only on my experience with the broad spectrum of Christianity I've personally been involved with. And when I tried to find a "denomination" or church label that fit Palin, the best I could find is that she has belonged to some "charismatic," i.e., Pentecostal churches and sort of identifies her self as "undenominational" or "nondenominational" Protestant. She's a conservative Bible believer of one stripe or another, for sure.
Enough about religion. I can accept and respect her religious leanings. No problem there. If I can collect even a few of my thoughts on her experience or qualifications for president of the United States, I'll have something far different to say about that in my next post.
[tags]Sarah Palin, conservative Christianity, religion and politics, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
I’m almost as weary about presidential candidates as I am about that little insurance lizard
When G**CO started using that goofy little animatron/animated/whatever lizard to advertise their car insurance, I thought it was a cute play on the type of lizard (gecko) and the company's name. Not many months later, they came up with an angle that used a "caveman" to push their products. The makeup was done so well and the original couple of caveman ads were clever. Over all, the company, and the car insurance comparison service they offered seemed worthwhile.
But I am so sick of seeing ANYTHING to do with the lizard, the caveman, or the company that I normally turn off the television, or fast-forward through the commercials with my DVR, when either ad "icon" comes on. I would happily drop kick the lizard or poke the caveman's eye out with a pointed stick! (No, not really, but you get my point.)
I've just about reached the same sort of limit to my patience in this year's presidential race. I am sick and tired of hearing about John McCain and Barak Obama. I know who I'm voting for, and I know it has been MONTHS since either candidate has said anything new or original that might convince me otherwise.
I have a hunch that most folks who don't yet have their minds up about presidential voting in November are 1) too stupid to ever figure it out, 2) saying they are undecided but really are lying, 3) simply like the attention "undecided" gets them, or 4) never will make up their minds and so they really won't even vote.
Ah, well. It's going to be a long two and a half or three months yet until Election Day.
[tags]worn out advertising, too long presidential campaign, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]
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