such as?

Posted at July 23, 2008 1:05 AM in response to Webb (sigh)

first, webb already removed himself from the running, but more importantly, "not progressive enough?" if you are suggesting the vp candidate is going to be left of obama, then i guess i should only consult you about how i can go about selecting a better avatar.

Posted at July 23, 2008 1:05 AM in response to Webb (sigh)

nobody says censor yourself... maybe just choose not to put your creative genius on the cover of a national magazine. let's skip the naivete/idealism... this is not about healthy self-expression... dude and his editors know exactly what they are doing... selling mags. and if you are talking about health, i assume you means we need to express ourselves in the face of opposition. agreed. nonetheless, the people who are dead because some european newspapers, in solidarity with the danish press, decided to call extremist idiots on their extremist idiocy might not feel too healthy right now. my point is that in our real clever intellectual ways of standing on principle, we sometimes prop ourselves up as grand freedom fighters, when all we are doing is a) patting ourselves on the back and b) ignoring the sometimes very real implications of our actions.
gkp

Posted at July 14, 2008 11:26 AM in response to Osama & Angela... um, I mean Obama and Michelle Satire

reminding us all of how practically stupid being an intellectual snob can really make you.

word. this is exactly where i am at... satire...very clever... very funny... way protected free speech. buuuuut, does it really launch a thousand great, deep conversations, or is it just a way to show how smart and clever we can be, and how uch better we are than those "low information" voters (not to mention sell some mags)?
gkp

Posted at July 14, 2008 11:15 AM in response to An Open Letter to the New Yorker

oh, and i should add his weaknesses: from the house, and not a governor or someone with extensive executive experience.

gkp

Posted at July 11, 2008 1:22 PM in response to Election Central Morning Roundup

i'm putting my money on chet edwards.

rationale: geographic balance, record of winning in gop territory, strong military support, in line with obama on other issues, white male in his late 50s.

sebelius, richardson offer one too many firsts; webb, strickland and rendell have all pulled themselves from the process; warner is needed to gain a senate seat; control of the senate is critical, so dodd and biden, like webb, are staying put; hagel disagrees on every position obama holds besides the war, but he will pop up in the cabinet; powell is too tainted by iraq tho he will likely pop up in the cabinet; bayh is too young; j.edwards won't run a second time as vp, but shoudl get new cabinet level position on poverty; clinton brings too much bill baggage, will likely get debt relief and a first look at a supreme court slot. could be another sleeper out there with military experience that i've missed, but i think cats like clarke and zinni are already out the mix.

thoughts?

Posted at July 11, 2008 1:08 PM in response to Election Central Morning Roundup

here greg goes again... where exactly in this text is hillary clinton mentioned or is she told to drop out of the race. this email is no different than any of the articles written by journalists over the last 2 months saying that the math pretty much makes the race a done deal. it states the seiu's belief that obama will be the nominee and calls for party unity-- is a call for party unity equivalent to calling for hillary to drop out? with almost 50% of indiana clinton voters (or was it NC?) saying that they woudl not vote for obama against mccain, isn't a call for unity bigger than clinton's candidacy?

more hillary bias greg; you really need to get a hold of your journalistic compass if you want to be a respected writer. i point this, and other instances of sloppiness, out to you in hopes that you will get better with time and exposure.

gkp

gkp

Posted at May 7, 2008 12:20 AM in response to Obama Ally SEIU: "He Is Clearly The Democratic Nominee For President"

more on this "racial breakdown" nonsense... it is just so disrespectful to the hundreds of thousands of "latino voters" (40%) and "white working class voters" (35%) and "senior voters" (35%) who have voted for obama to essentially discount their votes. they do not exist, just as the 105k (to clinton's 112k) voters in new hampshire who don't really count after the media spins that primary as a great comeback. this is all about creating a narrative and has nothing to do with what will happen after the democratic nominee, with most likely a white man on the ticket, campaigns against the republican nominee for three months. the narrative does not reflect what's really happening in homes and precincts all over the country-- it simply gives simpletons something to write about and say over the airwaves until the next convenient narrative comes along.

gkp

Posted at May 6, 2008 9:43 PM in response to Meanwhile, In Indiana...

It should be noted that Obama got 91% of blacks in North Carolina and 92% of them in Indiana.

92% of them? you mean "the blacks." without rehashing a different kind of 90's culture wars, i wish "writers" would begin to understand how degrading this "the blacks" language is. it is just as annoying as "the jews" and i wish it annoyed "whites" more. i'm not trying to police anybody's language....say what the hell you want... just expressing that i don't like it. the operative word is people as long as this country insists on being stuck in the non-scientific... white people, black people, jewish people, etc. this plural-- like when you sort loads of laundry-- paints a facile monolithic view of the complex history and culture that we all bring to the table. greg, wish you were a more thoughtful writer; josh, i wish you had more time to help these guys out more.

and by the way, why is this "Obama's problem" with middle-class white people? seems to me that the story is white peopl'e problems with Obama, and this will come into high relief in KY, where he will be blown out for the first time all primary season---the only thing that will possibly account for the margin will be race. And the newsflash shoudl be, for anyone with "cajones," that Jeremiah Wright didn't invent racism.

gkp

Posted at May 6, 2008 8:33 PM in response to Meanwhile, In Indiana...

observer2-
thanks for your comment.

True "racism" was a system of racial hierarchy. This seems different than today's unconscious prejudices. There are very few "racists" (KKK, neo-nazi, etc.) but almost everyone is prejudiced to some degree and not just about race or gender. We should really stop using the "racist" word, which is mostly an insult nowadays, unless it literally applies, eg. hate groups. Otherwise stick with prejudices, discrimination, and the like.

i have to disagree with you here; it is false to suggest that racism, even by your own definition as being a system of racial hierarchy, no longer exists. it is not a "was"... it is an "is" when you look at the way that policies instituted anywhere from 60 to 5 years ago have everyday implications on where certain communities live, what kinds of environmental hazards get sited in their communities, the quality of the schools or health in their neighborhood, their wages or working conditions. "hate groups" are examples of individual racism-- today's racism is mostly perpetuated by institutions. and discrimination is but a subset of these institutional practices as they sometimes bleed into limitations on our social interactions or how certain communities are portrayed in the media. there is no value in jumping to the easy "post-racial" place... we have to do a lot of un-doing of very real policy implications... nothing theoretical here... the types of things that impact everyday people every day.

TM, the above applies to your response as well.
peace,
gkp

Posted at April 7, 2008 10:53 AM in response to Kristof is Not a Racist