thequis's Blog

Ten Steps for the Republican Party to Rejuvenate itself.

2008-11-14T23:00:33Z

Hey gang. Seeing as how I volunteered for the Obama campaign and am completely elated by his victory, I've decided to attack my own happiness. Because this is the topic Du Jour, I've decided to play Devil's Advocacy here and help out my former Republican Brothers and tell them what they can do to get the party back on the right track. I'm sure this being a column not bashing the Republicans, it won't get many recs but i've been surprised before.

1. Create and Champion the cause for serious immigration amnesty and reforms.

It must expand upon The Dream Act allowing children of immigrants to get scholarships, and have a path to citizenship for those that are already here. John McCain and President Bush tried this already and the far right voted this down. Someone has to do it again so that the Republican Party can become "The Party of Latinos."

Doing this will counter the automatic African American Voting Block that the Democrats enjoy. Also this is the fastest growing segment of the Voting Population. Alienate them and you are declaring defeat in the entire southwest and other sections of this country.

Another Bonus, Many Latinos are devout Catholics. They share many of the same social values the the Social Conservatives hold and cherish. Once you bring them into the tent you won't have to alter your core message very much.

2. Oppose but do not block Obama, Reid, and Pelosi Legislation.

There will have to be a couple of Republicans that are willing to jump on the grenade for the Party. The hope is that with an over reaching Democratic majority they will make some large mistakes. They will make some costly mistakes. If you allow them to over reach then you have something that you can run against. Otherwise the Republicans will be scapegoated into being the party that kept change from happening. You have to give Reid and Pelosi enough rope to allow them to hang themselves. In the short run, this will cost a couple senators BUT in the long run if they do in fact overstep their boundaries it will give the Republicans a hard Mantra to Run again.

The downside is that if they don't overreach and Democrats accomplish all they set out to and the country is happy then you're screwed. But really, isn't bottom line that what we all want, a bunch of happy American, regardless of what party they vote for.

3. Pray Obama doesn't run the government as well as he ran his campaign.

This will take a large collective prayer from every evangelical and some non-evangelicals. The Republicans will almost need an act of God to help them out in this regard. If Barack governs as well as I know that he can, he'll solidify those young voters and the other coalitions of voters that he's mobilized and they'll be Democrats for life.

4. Recruit Better Leadership.

This cannot be just the party of the South and the Northwest. There just aren't enough electoral votes to sustain that. Mitt Romney, who passed health care reforms as Governor of Massachusetts, was the closest thing that the Republicans had to someone that could appeal to independents in Non traditional Areas. John McCain ran too much as an angry partisan with no ideas. The electorate wants a solver not a fighter.

How about recruiting a moderate or slightly conservative minority candidate. Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice serve as great templates. Bobby Jindal (who maybe too conservative) Michael Steele or Mel Martinez might actually be other great possibilities. They should be Minority Candidates that do not run as minorities and don't run on minority issues. Look at Obama as the template. Alan Keyes can't be the face of diversity of the Republican Party.

5. Come up with some viable policy that can counter that of the Democrats.

Don't just say "Their Health care plans are bad!" Come up with one that addresses the needs of everyday citizens. Don't just say "Abortion is Murder." Come up with some solutions to the problem. Become the party that wants to defend the unborn through preventing abortions but by creating education that allows fewer children to be mistakenly conceived.

We don't live in the 1950s anymore. The Genie is out of the bottle. People are going to have sex. Either you can accept that and try to help those that do have it safely so they don't have unintended pregnancy which leads to less abortion, or you can stick your head in the sand.

This last thing maybe the hardest to accomplish but I'll say it anyway. If you want Roe v Wade repealed you'll need a Pro-Choice Republican that believes in States Rights in order for it to happen. Good luck with the ideologues on the Right allowing that to happen though.

6. Admit your faults and find some credibility.

It's hard to take the leaders of a party seriously when they never admit they they weren't correct in a situation. Going into Iraq was a mistake. Admit it. Wire tapping and torture were mistakes. Admit it. Sarah Palin wasn't the wisest choice for V.P. ADMIT IT!!!

This will allow you to gain the credibility that you are about governing and not just about winning. Every time you scream the sky is RED when the world is looking at a color wheel and sees it's blue you lose credibility. When ever you stand there and tell us that Sarah Palin was the most qualified person, man or woman, to be the Vice President of The United States over Romney, Pawlenty, Huckabee, Powell, Rice, Snowe, Hutchinson, you're telling us to not trust you. We saw the truth for ourselves on television. You're scaring away independent thinkers.

For that matter Acknowledge that YOUTUBE EXIST!!! We have a public and living record of pretty much everything everyone says in the media. You can't tell us one thing in one place an another in another place. There will be tapes cut of you lying all over the internet. The generation that is computer phobic will be gone in two presidential election cycles. Embrace that fact and go from there.

7. Embrace Intellectualism Again.

Faulting someone because they are smart, or they have achieved or because they went to a great school isn't a way to build a party with the best and brightest on your team. People want to know their leaders are smart. The great thing is, although you'll anger some of your Southern Base, they're not going to all of a sudden vote for "The Liberal" BUT this will allow you to capture some of the intellectual in other regions.

The best thing for the party maybe to put in place the proportional delegate system that the Democrats have. Right now the Republican with the Best Name Recognition will always win the big states. Proportional voting will allow other candidates that can appeal to several different swaths of the electorate to actually having a shot at representing the party.

8. Focus on solutions for this country and not on imperialism in other countries.

I realize this will anger the Tom Clancy Readers in the base. But you have to start creating solutions for the people at home. Too many of the right wing think tanks are focused on how to spread democracy. You must get back to focusing on how to make this democracy work.

9. Create a message that says you don't want to take anyone's rights away.

You want people to be able to decide for themselves in a state wide manner. Yeah, you'll be taking away some of people social rights, but you'll make it so that it's the people and not the party. (See Prop 8) I personally don't like this approach BUT its a way of selling social issues that Republicans Cling to. Having a Republican say that he supports gay rights in general but he wants to allow states to make that decision on their own. Will be much more appealing to independent voters. That allows the Evangelicals that are concentrated in the South to still get behind you because you don't want them to have to change their traditions BUT those that do in the North are free to.

10. For the second time, as unlikely as it is to happen, pray for an Obama mistake.
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There are a few broad assumptions that I'm making. Most Hardcore partisans will be upset with some of these moves, BUT they won't vote for the other side. This is to reach to those voters in the center. The truth is we are a CENTER nation (tilting slightly to the left because of the economy). Although Republicans like to call this place a center right country, they govern from the HARD Right.

They've got to get some other age groups besides the current 65 and older voters because they'll soon die out and be replaced by the middle aged ones of today. Think of the next crop of 18 year olds, they'll be playing video games with Barack Obama advertisements in them for the next 8 years. You've got to do something to Hook their parents quick or you'll lose that entire generation too.

Okay Guys, I think its time.

2008-11-13T18:21:23Z

For at least 52% of the country, November 4^th 2008 will be a day that everyone remembers for the rest of their lives. Like many moments in history (King & Kennedy Assassinations, OJ Verdict, Rodney King Verdict) we will all be able to recall the exact spot and exact settings and the exact state of being that we experienced when it was finally called that Barack Hussein Obama would become the Next President of the United States of America.

To be clear this is a culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice. Many of you totally destroyed your phone plans phone banking for hours not counting the minutes. Every dollar spent, every door knocked on, every volunteer recruited, every vote counted was worth it to have that one moment we we as a nation could all scream, YES WE DID!

It's been a week now. The parades are over, the crowds have dispersed. There are no more email or robocalls from celebrities. I'm here to talk to you like that best friend you talk to after a break up. "It's time to move on. Barack has found somebody else, you know governing, so its time you do the same."

I know what your saying:

"But, But, But what if he calls and he needs us to like, I don't know, donate or phone bank or... I miss him so much. I miss the emails and the little videos Plouffe use to make." Sniff Sniff, Cry.

We all miss him, and if he calls or shoots you an email, feel free to answer. He's living his life, it time for you to live yours too. Okay, stop crying.

If you've got an Obama sign in the lawn, its about time to take it down. You don't want to be that weird rednecky family in the neighborhood with the bathtub in the front lawn and the Christmas Lights and decorations up until June. Do you remember how many times you made fun of those folks? See, As Vince Vaughn would say "You're better than that."

Oh and for that matter, its also time to put that bad college yearbook photo of you back on Facebook, or Myspace, or whatever social networking site you're on. We get it, you like Barack. But I wanna know if that slovenly drunken girl I met at the bar that said "Add Me" cleans up nice.

Some one came up with a great protest of solidarity for Barack's middle name. It worked, He's going to be president so now you can change your middle name back from Hussein to Leon, or Patrick, or Mary, or Katherine or Elizabeth, whatever douchey name your parents tucked into your birth certificate. I'll say this it's perfectly fine to name that baby you made having unprotected sex celebrating his victory Barack, or Michelle, or Obama or Hussein. I'm sure there will be a few white, and Latino, Sashas and Malias born on August 4^th 2009. If I find a kid named Yeswecan Jones, or Hopenchange Jackson, I will punch the offending parents in the forehead.

Don't feel too bad, you can still wear the Barack T-Shirts. Just put some of your other shirts back in rotation. It still feels good to get thumbs up from old ladies when you walk into restaurants. But that shirt has to last you until the 2012 when Barack will need all the money he can to take on The Minister, The Mormon, and The Barracuda.

Cognitive Dissonance and the Republican Party

2008-11-13T01:43:27Z

I'm sure that there are more than enough postmortems that are floating out in the blogosphere about what are the problems with the Republican Party. You have answers from those that feel this year John McCain wasn't Republican ENOUGH, then there are those that are saying that John McCain was TOO Republican. The truth of the matter is that it stems out farther than one candidate.

Let's open our eyes and take a look at the COMPLETE SHELLACKING that the entire Republican Party took this last election cycle. The lost over 20 seats in the House of Representatives, they've lost 7 seats so far in the Senate, and last but not least they lost the big Prize the Presidency of the United States.

Now I'm going to speak to you all of you as a former Moderate Republican myself. (You know from the wing of the party that looks at what Bill Clinton accomplished in the White House with the Republicans and says, "Yep, Bill was a Democrat In Name Only") I've been converted to center left. (Although socially, I'm liberal, my wallet is still very Conservative.) The Republican Party has had a very serious problem for years that has now started to bubble to the surface. The party has two completely incongruous messages.

Fiscal Conservatives love to scream about keeping the government out of their lives, keeping the government out of their business. They scream for deregulation and having the government stand aside and let the the strong survive in the business community. BUT here is where the dissonance occurs. At the same time these Social Conservatives want the government to be involved with the personal lives of its citizens. They want the government to regulate television content. They want the government to make it illegal for women to control their pregnancy. They want the government to make sure that gays can't get married. They want the government to intervene when someone is pulling the plug on a comatose family member.

How can you reconcile the message of Leave the Government OUT of my Business, but Leave the Government IN my house? That just doesn't resonate with people. That was the great thing about Ron Paul, as a borderline libertarian he wanted government to be out of everywhere (Although, I think his pro life stance as more because abortion cuts into his OB-GYN business). There was a certain cohesion with his message. He knew that government didn't belong in your wallet or in bedroom.

The Current GOP doesn't have any sort of cohesion. They are a hodgepodge of the Social Conservatives who want Big Brother in the Bedroom and the Fiscal Conservatives who want to murder the brother all together.

The Fiscal Conservatives have brought on a completely different set of problems with the Republican Party. They eschew big government for big business. They don't want government handling anything that a business can. I can see the upsides to that, but also there are some definite downsides. There used to be a day where the government kept a watch over corporations and made sure none of them grew too large or had too large of a market share in a particular entity. Remember the break of of Ma Bell. Can any of you guys remember the last big corporate break up. Nope. I can't either. But what I do remember is the number of Mergers, Consolidations, and Acquisitions that I've seen over the last 25 years.

With these companies becoming behemoths large enough to rival small Countries also comes the risk that when they fail they take a significant portion of our GDP with it. The FisCONS don't want government run health care but they'll take HMO or Kaiser. They don't want government run Utilities, but they'll gladly fork over cash to Enron. The problem that they cause to the message of the Republican Party is that over the last several years we've seen the result of corporate greed on the individual's life. We've seen Enron and Tyco destroying the wealth of retirement plans. We've seen AIG and Lehman destroy the credit of everyday working Americans.

How can the little guy resolve that we should let these guys have more control of our lives and money when we have no control over them? At least when the government is screwing you over, as a citizen you know that you can exercise your right to vote the idiot out of office in a few years. If its the CEO of Enron you don't have any control until you're money is gone and he's in a posh prison.

The Social Conservatives love to rail on about personal responsibility but they don't want any of that responsibility to be personal. The want to make sure that you're not able to make decisions about whats right and whats wrong or whats moral and whats just. They want the government to do it for you. What? Is God not doing enough in the afterlife? If God truly believed that Abortion is Murder wouldn't he punish the sinner for eternity in the next life? Same thing with Gay Marriage, and euthanasia. It's almost like they think that St. Peter isn't qualified to do the whole Judge, Jury, Executioner bit.

The truth is this, the Republican Party doesn't have much to be afraid of. The Democrats will do as they've done in the past, Fix the Problems by raising taxes and making responsible investments in jobs creation and infrastructure projects. Then once the problems are fixed and all is well in the world the Republicans will run against them saying those taxes and investments are harmful, oh and look, THE GAYS!!! That's right, once everyone is educated, employed, and enjoying the fruits of economic bliss they'll allow a Republican to ride in on a wedge issue and fuck it up again. Then we'll be writing about the problems of the Democratic Party.

Voting

2008-11-06T03:14:34Z

I was all set to tell you the untold story of California and how it helped to elect Barack Obama. But today I want to reflect on a moment from a couple of weeks ago.

Two weeks ago I attended and helped facilitate an early vote and phone bank rally in Norwalk, California for Obama. After setting folks up, teach them and training them on what they need to say on the phones in order to convince others to vote for Senator Obama, I seized my chance to get in line and cast my vote for The Next President of the United States of America.

Let's jump back in time a little bit. I haven't been with this campaign very long. I've been a part of the Volunteer Staff of the Obama Campaign at the California Headquarters in Los Angeles since it opened the day after Sarah Palin spoke at the Republican National Convention. That's only about 3 months. There are people that have been on the campaign trail for Obama for the past 20 months. There are folks in California who been singing the praises as Barack before he won lily white Iowa and let blacks black folks know "Yes, He Could!"

This was my first experience working on a political campaign or volunteering my time for a cause larger than my own personal aspirations. In the past, if you wanted to get the use of my Northwestern University intellect and my ability to work with and inspire others then you had to pay for it. I grew up poor and I've been determined my entire life to try to fight the headwinds of generational poverty (albeit, quite unsuccessfully). For months, like many of you, I sat and watched the Primaries and worked my jobs and lived my life. Like many of you, I started to hear about different blogs and different places to get the news that you don't get on ABC, CBS, NBC, or CNN.

During this time, I did something that I thought I wouldn't do until I became rich and had achieved my personal goals, I donated money to a political campaign. Now truly, the donation wasn't much, but at the same time I didn't have much. At one point when I was afraid of Obama Losing, I had 17 Dollars in the bank and Obama got 10 of it. I sat in front of the computer, writing blogs, reading the polls, and fretting. I was engaged but not involved. Then there was the Email to change my life. Apply for Camp Obama and work in a battleground state.

Six Weeks later I'm in a room with 200 other Obama Supporters of every age, ethnic background, wealth class, and self perceived status. It was a beautiful collage of Americana. We shared our stories and got down the the nitty gritty of what made us human and what made us support this man. We laughed, we cried, we bonded. We became a unit, an army of folks united for a cause higher than ourselves. The kool-aid flowed and we didn't sip from a chalice, we gulped from a barrel until our bellies were distended.

Flash forward weeks later and I'm on a great team of folks guiding the chaos in one of the main offices of America's largest volunteer based army. I don't want to overstate my part in this. I was but a washer or a cog in the gigantic wheel of Obama. As of right now, I still don't have a title to put on my resume. All I did was give a few high fives, spoke some encouraging words, and filled in what needed to be filled in.

There were folks like Mary Jane, Erin, Aaron, Brent, Jackie, Hillary, Akili, Michelle, Meshel, Andy, Ashley, Aimee, Amy, Robin, Beverly, Dan, Mitchell, Joe, Laura, Julie, John, Sarah, Rick, Hayden, Rita, Rose, Elizabeth, Alek, Kelli, Haze, Cigi, Hope, Debbie, Joyce, Cheri, Marianne, April, Kirstin, Victoria, plus many many others that worked Harder, did more, and played far larger parts than I did in the victory we all celebrate (Not to forget Donald F'ing Sutherland making phone calls for 9 hours straight). They were the ones burning the midnight oil finding ways to cultivate new volunteers, crunching numbers, entering data, worrying about making their deadlines and fretting about contacts and washed hands. Many of them were parts of the Primary Force that got us to the General Election. Many of them are the REASONS why I get to write this entry today. If not for their inspiration and aspiration, their courage to do more in the face of inevitability, we wouldn't have a President Elect Obama. I'm grateful to all of them. I'm also getting off course.

[Back to Voting.]

I'm in line to early vote for the guy I've abandoned all of my life responsibilities to help elect. I literally dance to the woman who's job it is to issue my ballot, which brings a smile to her face. "Hmm, I know who you're voting for." We both smile.

I'm in the booth, Got my book, got my ballot. I look down see The Democratic Party Barack Obama, and Joe Biden #8. BOOM! That's when it hit me. Thoughts, Emotions, Deep Seated Awakenings. He's the new President.

[Here comes another lengthy aside]

If any of you read a previous blog entry that I posted (or heard my story of self) you know where I started out in life (If you haven't you can read it here). As a result of my beginnings, one of the things that I carry around in my wallet is my goal. "I want to be the kind of man, have the kind of success, and live the kind of life that will serve as example for Minority youths to aspire to become whatever they chose to be." The beautiful thing is that Barack Obama is already a better template for the children than I could ever be. Helping him to become president will more than fulfill that goal even if I am not the example myself.

[Back to Present]

I'm out of the voting booth and I want to share this moment with someone who I loved that I thought that would understand the significance and power of voting for a good, hardworking, moral, intellectual who happens to also be black. So I call my grandmother. As a kid she talked about the great speeches of Dr. King and the importance of getting an education. I was sure that I would reach out and we would share a hug through the phone. Mind you, at this point my voice is hoarse from the cold I'm catching and from teaching packs of people how to speak to Nevadans. Instead of having that moment of mutual admiration and joy it turned into an argument about how I'm not getting paid, and my health and blah, blah, blah. We ended the conversation with me railing on about dedicating my life for a cause greater than self and her wondering aloud who was this person she was speaking to on the phone.

After reaching out to share a moment, to magnify love, I ended up with a kidney punch. Surly would probably be the best way to describe the outer manifestation of my inner residual resentment. But that melted later that afternoon.

There was an Older Black Woman, about the same age as my Older Black Grandmother, sitting in the grass cranking out calls. I'm going around yelling to the callers to wrap it up we're about to end the phone bank and rally. She was three sheets into her five sheet set and with the look of serious business in her eyes, told me I would get the calls sheets when she had made all of the calls. I and a few people with the campaign wrapped up everything else and waited for her to call through the list.

This Older Black Woman, Summer, if I'm being proper, I'd call her Miss Summer, drove 100 miles to come down, cast her vote and was determined to get through all five sheets we handed to her. We hugged and she thanked us profusely for giver her something to do to help the campaign besides just donating as she had been doing. Then she said something that brought it all together: "This is what I marched for."

I cried that day, like I did last night (election night). The top soil has been stripped away and I've seen my roots. This is my, excuse me, this is OUR march. My grandmother can tell you all about Dr. Kings Speeches, she tells the story of Emmett Till (the 14 year old kid that was beaten and killed for whistling at a white woman), she told us about Fred Hampton (who has a swimming pool named after him in our home town). But what she has never shared is HER experiences in the struggle. Thats because she doesn't have any. She cringes when she watches old news footage of the marchers forging on in the face of fire hoses and dogs, she turns the television whenever Alex Haley's Roots comes on, she hates Danny Glover because "He played that role too good" in The Color Purple. She rails on and on about how white people used to do us, but she never lifted a finger to change it. She resentfully sat her ass in the back of the bus dreaming for someone else to make it possible so she could sit in the front.

That is the beauty of Miss Summer. She Marched. She sat at lunch counters. She made history instead of just living it. If we would have chatted longer I'm sure that she would have shown me the scars that it took to make it possible for me to work with this group of people to elect this Black Man as president.

This is our March. These are our sacrifices. Lost sleep, bad health, negative checking account, creditor calls, no time to write, a complete stop of my career progress, and near eviction from my building for not completely holding up my end of the bargain as the apartment manager. No dog bites, not cracked skulls, no internal bleeding. I did get called Nigger, a couple times on the phone but I've heard worse than that on the average Rap CD.

These are the LEAST possible things that I could do. The greatness of Obama is that he could inspire a guy like me who comes from a place where you don't risk your neck and get me to put my neck squarely on the chopping block. Let's be honest, I wasn't risking my life as though who came before me had. I risked temporary comforts. The greatness of Obama is MILLIONS of people risked the same comforts. We watched our spouses raise their children, we gave up great jobs in a time of joblessness, we ate doughnuts and pizza shaving years of our lives off. He was the only one who risked his life. He did that for us. We didn't have to take the hits. We didn't have to risk all to score the winning touchdown. All he asked is that we each work together and move the football an inch closer to the goal line to make it easier for him.

That was our march. That was our vote counting. The day I voted is the day I realized that I don't have to be where I came from. I don't have to be the the grandson of my grandmother. I became a part of a movement. We live in a far better America Today than we did yesterday. I helped MAKE history instead of sitting idly by during it.

I Should Not Be Here

2008-10-29T21:59:17Z

I should not be here. I'm a black man, 30 years old. Statistically speaking, many folks in my demographic are either dead or in jail. I should not be here. I grew up on the west side of Chicago with a crack house across the street. My mother was a crack head, my aunt was a crack head and like Barack, I didn't know my father until I was about 12 or 13. My mother abused me until I was about 12. You know, physical beatings, but worse was the mental abuse. She told me she only had me for a welfare check. She told me I would never do shit, be shit, or have shit.

You know sometimes, people. I don't just mean black people. Most people of lower socio economical means put caps on themselves. They limit what they feel is possible.

My grandmother took me to the doctor when I was 12. Doctor Alexandria. She was an immigrant from Jamaica. Dr. Alexandria did what doctors do when they have kids in, she asked "What do you want to do when you grow up?" I was 12, so I said "I want to be a doctor and a lawyer when I grow up" My grandmother Said "Hush Boy! You ain't gonna be no doctor and a no lawyer!" Dr. Alexandria said, "No, You Hush! Don't you tell that boy what he can and can not do. I have a friend that is a doctor and a lawyer. If he wants to be a Doctor and a Lawyer, he can be a doctor and a lawyer!"

Now, I'm not a doctor and a lawyer, but I did graduate from Northwestern with a B.S. In communication studies. And I'm in Los Angeles pursuing my goals in the entertainment industry. I'm supporting Barack Obama not because he's a black man, because if Flavor Flav was running for office I wouldn't be here. I'm supporting him because he's a good man. An honest man. His unlikely story tells any kid no matter what race they are, whether their parents are immigrants, whether they were rich or poor, no matter what their starting circumstance, if they work hard and are good people they can be whatever they want to be. I'm supporting Barack so no other kid will have to hear that he can't be a doctor or a lawyer or whatever he or she wants to be.

At this point the election is just 6 days away. If you've been watching the coverage or reading the blogs on a daily basis then you know we have a great chance to make history. But this is not the time to let up. Monday and Tuesday are the closing days of the campaign and we're going to need all the help that we can get. This is your last time to help shape our country's history.

Ask yourself, do you want to want to tell your kids about the time you Voted for Change or do you want to tell your kids about that brief moment in history when you got off the couch and you made Change Happen! This is your chance to be the narrative instead of just reading the narrative.

If you're in Los Angeles, the you should sign up for a couple two hour phone banking shifts at the "Official Obama Biden Election Day Phone Bank." You can click here. If you're not in Los Angeles then just go to BarackObama.com put in your zipcode and find a phonebank near you!

I know many of you HATE making phone calls. Ask yourself this, would you rather do something you don't like for two hours or have a president you hate for another 4 years.
When you wake up on November 5th will you be able to say that you did all that you could.

As a Democrat I'm Ecstatic that Sarah Palin kicked ass tonight.

2008-09-04T09:41:50Z

Democrats everywhere should be exhaling a huge sigh of relief tonight. Sarah Palin will seem to be the Real Deal. Whew! Come on we all knew that she wasn't going to fuck up the carefully planned, and overly coached speech. She was GREAT. She knocked it out of the park. AWESOME!!!

Now the gloves come off.

Everyone that was fretting about Joe Biden looking like a bully. Fret NO MORE. Everyone that was worried about how you take on a woman. Worry NO MORE. Sarah (I'll ignore the hurricane shit storm brewing in Alaska) has proven that she's one of the guys. NOW the guys can treat her like one of the guys.

See the whole bully remark worked when everyone looked at her as this weak small town mayor and governor. But now she's proven that she can hit as hard and more time than the guys. This means they can hit back. It's like when your sister kicks you in the balls. When you get up ALL BETS ARE OFF!!! Now, I'm not advocating going dirty. That's simply not Barack's or this campaigns style. BUT, now they can go full barrels on her flippety-floppety record. They can hit McCain straight on for being OLD. He's a 72 year old two time cancer survivor that decided the person to take over for him in the event of his likely death with just a 15 minute job interview and a quicky background check. If you want to buy a McDonalds you have to go through more than that.

This is the best thing that came out of this convention. I wouldn't even refer to her as Sarah Palin, or Her. It would always be Governor Palin. She can be hit as if her name was “Sam Palin.” Let the games begin!

All the credit, None of the Consequence.

2008-09-04T08:30:11Z

Okay Gang here's yet another one of those Sarah Palin Columns. If you're Palin'ed out then click away. If not Proceed.

This candidacy is turning into a fucking joke. The Republicans have finally found a way this election to play the victim card after being the most evil sons of bitches known to man come election time. First off it starts out with the whole “Barack is calling us Racist Card!” A horse shit charge considering that they did infact use an ad to put him on the hundred dollar bill and ask “What else will he change?” but now they're playing the female sexist Victim Card.

GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!!!

If I hear the words “Would you ask a Man that Question?” One more time My head is going to go splatter all over the wall here at Denny's. They are absolutely right. She is getting asked (or the campaign since they apparently have put her in the same bunker that they keep Cheney hid in) a lot of questions that men don't get asked. WHY? Because she's running as “A HOCKEY MOM!”

What does the term Hockey Mom conjure? Someone that makes sure she's there for the kids. Someone who handles all the responsibilities of the family and will juggle that with a career. Have you ever seen a man run as a “Hockey Dad?” Has a male Politician ever used his credentials as a good father as a reason to vote for him? Okay, admittedly every politician trots out their family for the photo op. That's apart of the dog and pony show. Typically men don't use raising their families as a qualification for running for office.

Let's travel back to the primaries (Third Rail Time). Some of the stories that Hillary had to face were ridiculous and sexist and deplorable. Stories about her clothes, her neckline, her laugh were definitely out of line. But Hillary was never faced with the questions about her family and raising her family because, She was never “that kind of Girl.” Heck, If anyone remembers WAY BACK to 1992 Hillary caught hell for saying “I've done the best I can to lead my life ... You know, I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life.”

I get the feeling that if it was Hillary running for President in 1992 instead of Bill she would have faced some of those questions but, really, they would have been swatted away fairly quickly because she wouldn't have run, and in the primary didn't run as “The Mom.” As the Primary showed, she ran as a candidate first, wife second, a woman third, and forth “Woman who gave birth to Chelsea.” She didn't run as a mom, or as a lady that is raising a kid, she ran as a lady who birthed a baby that is now grown. Mom was somewhere on the totem pole but you can bet NO ONE is using that fact that she was a mother as any kind of qualification as Campbell Brown asserted after the speech tonight (or last night for many of you.)

What's shitty is Gov. Palin wants all the credit for being a hockey mom, for having a large family, and for deciding to keep her down syndrome child, but she doesn't want to face the consequences of that decision.

SIDE NOTE: WHY THE FUCK, is she getting credit for CHOOSING life? Why do you get credit for something you feel isn't a CHOICE. That's like a fucking lung cancer patient CHOSING not to smoke cigarettes. Well La-Ti-Fucking DAH!!! It's a life and death issue. She felt she would BURN in HELL had she CHOSE something else. Why does she feel it's right to take that CHOICE that she was able to make away from other women? The same is the case for the controversy for which we all know, but will not name. Choosing to have a baby when you think you're going to be punished for not having it is just as honorable as saying “I DO” with a shotgun wedged into your back at the altar. END SIDENOTE.

Personally, I think Gov. Palin made a good choice deciding to bring into this world and raise the Trig Palin. I am all for other people having kids (I don't want any of my own) but when she touts herself and “The First Dude” as responsible and honorable for raising Trig while she's in office then she has to answer the questions that surround it. When they decided to have a special needs child, I'm sorry, they decided that they needed to take on some extra responsibilities. If Sarah was applying to work at a regular company and had a special needs child, the company would rightly be concerned about how many days off she would need. What would happen if there were conflicts? The problem is if you're the President of the United States, you're ALWAYS President of the United States. There is no Punching out, or taking off. You can go on vacation but let's remember, “The Football” remains with the President even when they're kicking it in Crawford. She's RUNNING with the platform that she lives what she preaches. She decided to have this baby even though she knew the consequences. So as a person that could potentially pay her salary for th next 4 years, I want to know how she'll deal with the difficulties of being a Hockey Mom, and P.O.T.U.S.

SECOND SIDE NOTE: The Joe Biden Response. One of the responses that the republicans trotted out was “I don't remember anyone asking Joe Biden about being a father when he had to raise the kids.” You know what I don't either BECAUSE IT HAPPENED IN 1977!!! If it had happened in 2007, you better damn believe that would have been a question that would have been asked over and over and over again. It would have been on Fox News and CNN. They would have had “Biden Watch.” It would have been a media circus. END SIDE NOTE.

“Well, they don't ask questions like that about Barack Obama?” We've seen Obama on the campaign trail for almost 20 months. We know how the family deals with the personal responsibilities of balancing work and parenting. He's done interviews about how important family is and how its hard but Michelle picks up the slack. We've had 5 days to evaluate these same things from the “Hockey Mom.” We truly haven't even had a chance to truly evaluate that because she hasn't answered a media question or come out of the dungeon that they brief her in for the entire time that she's been a nominee.

I'm Sorry

2008-08-27T00:07:37Z

Hey Gang,
I appologize for appearing to spam. Connection kept telling me that it wasn't going through and I tried to post instead of refreshing to see if my posts already went through. My Bad. Damn Denny's WiFi. Feel free to yell at me.

Quis

The Threshold of Acceptability Horse SH*T

2008-08-26T23:56:54Z

I wish that someone, anyone would stand up from one of these anchor desks and yell at the top of their Lungs THIS IS HORSE SHIT!!!

Watching the pundits and all the reactors makes my stomach turn. Never in American politics has a candidate had to hop over so many hurdles to be president. I don't want to say that it is racism. It's something else. It's differentism or a prejudism maybe racialistness. I don't know what it's called we just know what it is.

Women and People of color have had to deal with this thing their whole lives. Just doing equal to what those in the majority isn't enough. It's almost as its just like Randy Quad said in Kingpin talking about the Amish “We Amish do what you do plus a half.” It's not enough to be equal, you have to be better. Warren Moon was one of the greatest Quarterbacks in the Football. He had to start his career in Canada because he was better than most of the Quarterbacks in the league but he wasn't “The Best.” The NFL tried to make him into a wide receiver.

This isn't out and out racism it's something else. But because it so subtle when black people call it racism whites grow resentful because its not someone shooting him with a fire hose or calling him a Nigger. It's just that they had never seen a black person succeed in this position so they don't envision that one would. They coaches tried to “help” Warren Moon by converting him to another position.

Think about when a standardized test asks a kid about interpreting golf scores, or when years ago there was a test that asked third graders about what to do what to do when you get a cut. The correct answer is to put on a band-aid. For many poor kids, both black and white, if you got a cut you'd throw some dirt on it and keep playing or better yet you'd rinse it off, put a paper towel over it and tape it together and keep on playing. The poor kids would be penalized for doing what their life experiences taught them was effective and right. They are penalized because their parents didn't have money to keep fucking flesh toned bandages in the medicine cabinet.

What does this all mean? It means there are Fuckers on the television questioning, not the words that Michelle Obama used but whether she means it. Will they offer the same type of assessment when Cindy McCain gives her speech next week? Will they question her patriotism?

Karl Rove says that she wasn't Patriotic enough? What the hell is the patriotic standard? Does she have to give every American a piece of pussy in order for them to feel she is patriotic enough? Does she have to strip naked on stage and diddle herself with an 13 inch (one inch for each original colony) American Flag draped Vibrator and have Stars and Fireworks shoot from her nipples? When she cums does she have to simultaneously put her hand over her heart and sing America The Beautiful? (She would probably have to fake it because if she has a REAL orgasm and makes an “O-Face” all would be negated because she'd once again be an angry black woman. She would also have to be careful to scream “Oh AMERICA” if she said “Oh God” the liberals would be protesting about bringing religion into politics.)

In no time in modern American politics has a candidate had to PROVE THEIR PATRIOTISM. How do you prove your patriotism and love of country? Patriotism is usually a lot like guilt and innocence, you're supposed to be Patriotic until Proven treasonous. We've elected two draft dodgers, a pot smoker, a few drunks, and a coke addict to the highest office in the land. We're here with what is the closest thing to the Cosby family you'll ever see in American Politics and they have to Prove they're Patriotic.    America and the Pundits would rather give J.M. and the cast of “Dynasty” a free pass to the White House than to see the first “Clean Articulate” Candidate of Color become the President. This is what is such HORSE SHIT!

This is what the difference is in America folks. It's a differentness. It's not out and out racism its brown colored glasses. Blacks feel we have to prove ourselves innocent where as white are innocent until proven guilty. Whites go to a great school they people assume its hard work and perseverance, a black goes to the same school and many assume its affirmative action. Cindy McCain will be questioned on whether how good or bad the speech is. Michelle Obama's speech is questioned on how genuine she was. Once you get into that territory to take the joke John McCain tried to play off of, we're not asking how a guy treats his wife but how often he beats her.

If we were at this stage of the election and the Nominee was a 47 year old white guy named Barry O'Brien. Barry was born in Hawaii and lived a few years as a child in Indonesia. Went to school on loans and scholarships. If he won the Democratic Nomination (okay, I'm gonna side step the question of the primary, PUMAs) we'd would be talking about what a great Story that could only happen in America. There would be no question of Barry's Patriotism, it would be assumed.

The elephant in the room is that there is a 5-10% of the population that wouldn't vote for Barack Obama if his Running Mate was Jesus Fucking Christ. The fact that he's tied in the polls is a real testament to how FUCKED the Republican Party is. A generic Democrat, Barry O'Brien, would be up by 10 points by now in this climate.

Let me take on some of the criticisms:
Farrakhan!!! -- Barack has no association with Farrakhan, but was forced to have to Discuss him because he's black and Barack is half black. You know all black people know each other. Should John McCain have to Renounce all of the hate groups that have given him support because he is also white?

Reverend Wright. -- Obama went to his church. Obama probably heard the sermons. Did you hear the sermons, in the entirety? Find me a false hood? “Well, he shouldn't have said god damn America!”    Is what he said any different than what several other ministers said, NO. Hell, Bill and Hillary Clinton called and invited Rev Wright to the White House when bill was having the Blue Dress Blues. Should millions of Catholics renounce the Catholic Church for it's handling of the child Molestations?

Rezko – Fact Check already debunks most of the criticisms here. There are good reasons why there hasn't been accusations hurled at Obama over this because there was nothing there but an association. That's it. The Republican Claim he received 14 million, NOPE, that money went to build housing for senior citizens. Rezko did receive 700k from the deal, as any developer would have done in the circumstance. In the life of a Politician, the reality is this shit happens. Ask Tad Stevens. Hell his numbers didn't dip until he was ACTUALLY indicted! There is no indictment and if you read the articles the prosecutors tried to cut deals to get Rezko to somehow implicate Obama, but there wasn't anything there. KEATING and the S & L scandals cost this country BILLIONS of dollars. John McCain knew what was going on and looked the other way. That, My Friends, in any other circumstances would be actionable evidence. I wonder if McCain pulled out his P.O.W. Card.

Ayers – They serve on a board together. They know each other through the community. They were both Professors in the same city. Hey anyone ever wonder WHY ISN'T AYERS IN JAIL!!! He was a “Terrorist” right! That's because he didn't do all that much and they don't have much evidence. Now he's a distinguished professor. McCain is good buddies with convicted felon, and domestic spy G. Gordon Liddy!!! does this get brought up. NO! It doesn't fit the story line of the Hero.

Obama is so Presumptuous!!! Pop Quiz which candidate referred to himself as “The President” before the primaries were even over? Which Candidate dispatch his own Envoys to a foreign warzone? Which candidate gave not one but two speeches on foreign soil and criticized his opponent while he was on those trips? Which candidate got called out for words about their country and not for taking military action on their behalf? If you said Barack Obama to any of these you are a bald Faced fucking LIER!!! Some of these “News Shows” should just get over it and call Obama “BOY!”

You know what, if you make a decision on Experience, or Judgment, or Tax Policy, or The Environment. I have no qualms with you.   You have every right to. But this invisible standard that the Obamas have to rise to. This “Threshold of acceptability” is a media created bullshit line in the sand that keeps moving every time Obama reaches it. Who was Bill Clinton before he ran for president? He was the Governor of a Shit Ass State that ranked in the bottom ten in the union. He was a year younger than Obama and just as little known on the national Scene but no one ever said “Who is this guy?” “He's Not like us?” “He's So Foreign?”

I hope to all that is wonderful, one of the Commentators Gets up grabs a camera throws it into the stands and talks about how much of this coverage is HORSE SHIT so we can have an honest dialog about how to fix this country instead of a fucking orgy of Racialist bull shit that dominates the air waves.

P.S. About Obama talking about them saying he doesn't look like the other presidents on the dollar bill. Why hasn't any commentators including Keith Olbermann (who I Love) brought up the fact that the Republicans have indeed made a commercial with Obama not looking like the other presidents on the dollar bills?

Someone PLEASE Shoot my Television!!!

2008-08-26T23:00:25Z

Someone PLEASE Shoot my Television!!!

2008-08-26T22:37:10Z

Marquis' $10,000 Haircut for Obama

2008-08-19T11:39:20Z

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/MarquisHair

With this fund raising page all I have is one question for you:

“Are you CURIOUS about the changes that will be made by Barack for our country, or are you SERIOUS about going out there and making those changes?”

Are you Curious or are you Serious?

Are you Interested or are you Involved?

Are you “Wanting to” and “Going to” or are you “Doing It” and “Getting it Done!”

Curious people do what is convenient.

Serious people do what is necessary.

Curious people say things like

“If it's on my way.”

“If I'm not too tired.”

“I'll try.”

“I really wanted to be there but...”

Serious people say:

“Where ever it is I'm there!”

“I'll be tired as heck, I'll be there with a cup of coffee in my hands.”

“I'm doing it”

I challenge you to decide which one are you? It's okay either way. But Decide. November 4th is a stones throw away. If you've been sitting on the couch yelling “F**K Bush for the last eight years then get off your ass and do something. This is your chance, this is your time! Do you want to keep talking about change or do you want to live it?

I'm an actor. Besides my skill, the most important tool in my arsenal is my looks. I've been growing my trademark hair for almost 5 years. It stands out on my headshots and its something that I've used to get parts. Here is some of my work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkI0LglmXns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up4zne3jk20

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1566699&vid=168883

If we raise $10,000 for this campaign I will Shave My Head!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/MarquisHair

Why is this so important for me?

I'm an actor and a writer. Like 90% of Hollywood I haven't starred in that one big movie or sold that one huge script that will set me up for life. Like most of my friends I skate by on whatever telemarketing/server/internet writing job I can get my hands on to pay the bills until I actually reach my goal.

With these little jobs I don't have health care. I don't have any form of insurance. I'm barely scraping enough money up drop some broccoli in my Top Ramen, how can I afford to pay for insurance for my health? Helping Barack Obama makes it so that all those people that are the extras you see in movies can stay in Los Angeles. Imagine a movie crowd shot without anyone in the crowd. Imagine the set of 24 with just the people with speaking roles. Imagine any movie with only the stars. The rest of us are living on borrowed time. One trip to the hospital and it's game over.

Having affordable Health Care for everyone matters. If you're rich, it means that you have workers available to work the shifts at your corporation to lift your stock price. If you're not rich it means having the security to go to a doctor before something becomes TOO expensive to fix.

This is for my knee that I've already severely sprained (or worse) without getting medical attention. When I'm 40, I'll probably walk the rest of my life with a limp (or I'll need my knee to be replaced). This is for my Grandmother, a retired factory worker who's back teeth are broken but she doesn't have health care and can't afford to pay 2 thousand dollars (or more) for a complete bridge and denture work.

With Barack Obama in office we have the hope of Universal Healthcare. We get the chance to make sure your movies continue to look like reality so I challenge to Donate through My Page, To Volunteer in your local area (or travel to a swingstate for a weekend or two), and To Vote.

What are you willing to give up to help Obama guide America? Are you serious or are you curious?

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/MarquisHair

John Edwards, Political Suicide Bomber?

2008-08-11T03:24:26Z

The Jig was up and the case was closed John Edwards was about to be exposed. This is whats being sold to us as why John Edwards has chosen to come clean RIGHT NOW.

BUT...

Could this be John Edward's greatest gift to Obama? Did John Edwards introduce a topic to the American conversation that Obama Himself could not, Faith, Infidelity, and Family Values? Hmmmm

From Ben Smith's blog on The Politico:

"What I was thinking was this was something that was personal to my own family," Edwards said, citing other public figures having survived extramarital affairs. He recalled, he said, having heard "John McCain talk about the mistakes that he’s made in his past with respect to his first marriage."

"I’m not the first person to do this," he said.

Obama holds the trump card on all issues family values related. He's in loving marriage, scandal free, and talks about religion more than Jesus himself. He has no divorces, and we haven't to this point heard a story about a jilted ex or another lady.

With reporters needing to fill their political notebooks now we get stories like Cenk Uygur's who asks “How is John McCain's Affair Different from John Edwards?” Any day were talking about John Edward's infidelities and John McCain's infidelities is a bad day for John McCain. More important than these stories we'll see popping up in the next few days, are the stories that will be written taking a more intense look, not at John McCain's old marriage but at his more recent allegations.

Remember this: “The New York Times has published a bombshell report linking Sen. John McCain to lobbyist Vicki Iseman."

The MSM already got beat once by the Enquirer. Will they feel the need to be right and get the scoop on the next adulterous affair? John McCain gave a STRONG push back calling a press conference to deny the allegations put forth by a source a LITTLE more credible than the National Enquirer, the NY Times. Will reporters go back through their notebooks and check out some old leads, or more importantly will reporters start asking John McCain questions that aren't about the economy, aren't about foreign policy, aren't about drilling. Will they start to add droplets of doubt to the one thing that has been deemed untouchable, his impugnable Character.

Remember the road to 270 isn't won on hard evidence, it's won on everyone's gut feeling motivation to get to the polls and vote. To a group of people that don't trust John McCain (Evangelicals, and true Conservatives), could those droplets get them to stay home? Could those doubt droplets get them to NOT push their more apathetic neighbors into getting to the polls? It's easy for an Evangelical to go and vote to make sure the “Anti-Christ” doesn't get into office, it's not so easy for them to stake their reputation to their friends and neighbors on a guy they're not sure isn't the Anti-Christ as well.

Maybe, John Edwards will get his 72 virgins in heaven. We'll see as the Election turns.

How to Convert the "Drill Here, Drill Now" Average Joes

2008-08-05T22:51:05Z

I was inspired by Obama's snap on The Drilling today to write this blog to tell you how to talk to republicans with regards to drilling.

This Elections is quickly boiling down to a single issue: Energy! Energy for us in the way of food. Energy for our cars in the way of gasoline. Because of the rise in the cost of the latter we are paying more for the former. Now the Republican are screaming “DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW!!!” Americans everywhere are saying I wouldn't mind at all if they drilled in my back yard if it brought the cost of gasoline down. Democrats say it's a silly solution cite the environment, or some statistic that says it won't do any thing for blah number of years and then that's it.

We must talk to people and let them know why the Whole Drill Here Drill Now argument is Bullshit. Oh and let me make this a little harder for you. You have to talk to them on their terms. If you scream about the environment to most average joes (low info folks) they could give a rat's ass. Some of you have heard me talk about Arkansas Americans vs Coastal Americans. Well this issue (I've fundraised for the Heritage Foundation so I know a little bit about this) here is that many of them that know the environmental arguments but they chalk those up to “junk science.” They've got studies that back them up just like we have studies to back us up.

You have to talk money and and common sense. You see, they understand free market economics (well, at least they claim to, that's why so many of them vote republican). Many people don't understand that we, AMERICA, don't own the drills, the refineries, the blah blah blah, to making the oil industry work. They assume that when we drill in ANWR that the oil goes to our refineries and then goes to our gas tanks. Many of them don't understand that it doesn't quite work that way.

The way we've set up our system is a free market economy. We lease out the land (or ocean) to the oil company and give them the rights to be able to drill there. Once they pay the leasing fees whatever they drill they are free to sell in the free market. It's very akin to your own home and property. Most people believe that they own property, NOPE, the government leases the land to you. As long as you pay the taxes you may remain on the property, but (as many people are finding out) once you don't have the money for the property taxes then the house gets sold. You own the house and the rights to build on that land through the mortgage but you're paying the government to stay there. (I know some of the facts there are a little fuzzy and a lot more complicated, but the gist of it is what's important)

Now how does this relate to gas prices.

Well, after EXXON or BP or Shell or whatever giant Corporation owns the lease to the Oil Spot and sucks the black gold into a tanker they can sell it to whoever is going to give them the highest price. We have to bid on the oil that came from our own land err ocean. So we have to compete with China, India, Japan, the rest of the World for resources that came out of our own ground err water. Because China and India with their HUGE populations are now becoming industrialized their demands will soon match and exceed America's. That's why they'll bid the price up along with us because they need the resource as much as we do and they have more people. Along with the China suppressing the price at the pump in their country to give an ENCENTIVE to people to drive more (and buy more cars) and China and India's rapid highway expansion the more that is pumped the more they will take. Which is why we will only see a few cents savings over the next 10 years.

If you want to dig an extra special knife in their backs, then you can tell them it was the free market, save the oil company Republicans that helped make the laws the way they are. There was actually a vote a couple of years ago that would have made any oil that we drilled in ANWR available exclusively to America and The Republicans, John McCain included, voted it down. Company's First!

Then you can hit them with the fact that over 72% of the expected haul of oil is available to the oil companies to drill RIGHT NOW in 68million acres of land. The won't drill it.

That's when you'll get the neck jerk, WHAT? That doesn't make any sense. Why?

Because of cost. It costs money in order to build oil derricks and pay employees and to get permits and to blah blah blah. Why drill when you can get all the profits from owning the land and the POTENTIAL PROFITS and borrow against them to secure more capital. It's like having a piece of property that you got for cheap and borrowing against the equity without actually living there. If they drilled they have to pay money. The land rights gives them more money to secure capital to buy other companies and increase their profit margins.

So giving them more land to drill on won't give us more oil, it will give the oil companies more money they can Use to look better to wall street to increase their stock options. Not a drop more gas in our gas tanks. If the oil companies were serious about drilling they'd already be doing it.

The other thing that you'll have to let the people know is that Oil is a finite resource. Once it's gone that's it. This is like putting a band-aid on a broken arm or giving a junky a new heroine dealer. We have an opportunity to fix the problem permanently now or we can wait until we have NO CHOICE and it'll be much more expensive. 30 years ago Brazil took the plunge and now they don't take in any foreign oil. They had to go through a rough patch and we will to but this is an opportunity to make life better for our kids and grand kids. Once our Energy is based on renewables, then we won't have to worry about whether or the price of gas will be affected by a strike against Iran.

Close them with an analogy. It's like the little oil light has been going off in the car. The driver knows they need to get an oil change but they ignore it. The car starts running a little ragged so they drop in a quart of oil and don't change the filters. It runs better for a little while but then it starts back running rough. So they add more oil but it doesn't do much so they keep driving. Now it's been months and their driving along on the highway and the car Stops DEAD. They lift the hood and it's smoking. The engine has ceased. Two thousand bucks for towing and a new engine. All of that could have been avoided with a 20 oil change. America has been driving around with that same oil light flashing since the Carter administration. We can either drop in another can of oil and hope the engine doesn't blow or we can take the bite change the way we've been doing things and never have to worry about this problem again.

Polls Scholls!

2008-07-25T17:56:27Z

Okay, there has been a lot made out of the polls as of late either its “Obama is up by blank, but he’s in trouble with blank” or “McCain is gaining ground on Obama in blah blah blah.”

The most important poll that has been released is the one citing the “Enthusiasm” for the candidates. You know the one that says:

According to the poll, 44 percent of Obama voters say they are excited about their candidate, but only 14 percent of McCain voters say that of the Arizona Republican. Forty-two percent say they're satisfied with him, and 43 percent say he’s the lesser of two evils.

-- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25816799/

WHY?

Well, this election more than many in the past will be a turn out election (Duh, isn’t every election). Who ever turns out their base will win. You see a poll is a measure of who is willing to pick up the phone and answer some questions. An election is a battle of who is able to mobilize a larger force to take a half-day off of work, weave through traffic, stand in line (and by many accounts this year could have some LONG LINES) and pull the Lever or punch the card. (Come on Democratic Floridians, go the gym and work out those arms, sometimes its really difficult it is to push a pin all the way through a tiny hole. [That’s what she said HI-YO!!!])

This election unlike the past several has a candidate on the Democratic side that people ACTUALLY WANT TO VOTE FOR. A vote for Kerry was a vote AGAINST Bush. (Kerry was boring, and didn’t distance himself in the debate, he didn’t fight back when he was attacked. What if AMERICA is attacked? Would he fight back then?) A vote for Gore was a vote for someone slightly less conservative, but a lot less fun than Bush. (This isn’t Gore OS X of 2008. Go back to the Gore Windows 3.1 of 2000 remember, this was pre-fire and brimstone environment saving Nobel Award Winning Gore. This was the Gore that was afraid of trotting out the Democratic Champion, Bill Clinton, until it was too late. THAT Al Gore) Some low info Democrats called Gore “the lesser of two evils.”

This election unlike many in the past has many CLEAR ideological dividing lines BUT what is absent are the POLARIZING and MOBILIZING NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) issues that the GOP has counted on in the past. There isn’t a huge Debate on immigration between the Candidates. There isn’t a huge difference on Gay Marriage. And in the case of Morality, Personal Responsibility, and Family Values, Obama has thoroughly snatched that mantle from the GOP being in a committed 16+ years Marriage, Divorce free, and openly discussing his faith with all who would hear it (well, unless you still think he’s a Muslim and that’s a WHOLE other discussion). Now that the traditional arguments“Mexicans, Gays, and Blow Jobs” are off the table we have an election built upon the issues that most people care about but the see it as “Too Big.”

Some of you are gonna say “Well there are people that are for the war and some that are against it.” War is a lot like abortion. No one is really FOR ABORTIONS they are for the protections of the rights of the mother or protection of the rights of the Fetus. If by biological design a woman could pick and choose when she would have a happy and healthy baby (You know, like she could tell the ovaries to stop sending eggs down until she’s ready to pop out a kid and take care of it in 9 months) then there would be probably few to no abortions. With No Abortions there would be no fight, everybody is happy. (Okay, Okay, there would still be that radical wing of the right that thinks that Sex is Evil [except if the sex is in an airport bathroom, or with a black maid with who you have a child with and deny until you croak]) Going back to war, both candidates are FOR the protection of the Interests of the United States. Where they differ is how to exercise those protections.

Oh and back to abortion for a moment, Pro life and Pro Choice. This election does have two people on very opposite sides of the spectrum on this issue. But in McCain’s need to appeal to women and to still appear to be moderate, his Pro-Life stance has been reduced to a whisper campaign to specific constituencies. “Pssst, evangelicals, there won’t be any baby killing on my watch, My Friends.” The evangelicals are all like “Hey, Why aren’t you making that a CENTRAL part of your campaign!?! Why don’t you tell EVERYONE how you feel about us!?! WHY ARE YOU WHISPERING!?! The Pro-Life Evangelicals sound like the used mistress in the hotel room sobbing, while McCain sits on the edge of the bed saying ‘I love you, I’m working late but I’ll be home shortly’ to his Pro-Choice Moderate Swing Vote Wife on the phone. The Mistress thinks he loves them but they can never be sure cause he won’t leave his wife [unless she's been disfigured in a car accident, gut that's a WHOLE other story].

Back to Big Issues. Health Care, Taxes, Economy, Social Security. Most Low Info voters don’t know how to fix these problems so they rely on the government to do it. People are always going to go to the doctor when the hurt, People will always pay taxes, People will be in and out of Jobs til the end of time, and As long as the check comes at the first of the month for the old people they won’t feel the HUGE STING. The perception is “that’s just the way things are.” Now I’m not saying these things aren’t important, they are HUGELY important. They just aren’t NIMBY issues. Yes, a corporate stock holder VERY MUCH cares about who foots the bill on health insurance (if the Auto Industry was smart they would have backed Hillary’s Health plan in 1993 and they wouldn’t be in such a deficit right now). But as long as an every day Joe can go to the Doc when he needs to either by paying more in taxes to the government or more in premiums to his insurance company through his company, then he’s covered. These issues truly boil down to “My Plan is Better Than HIS Plan!!!” Who ever screams it the loudest, boils it down to the simplest terms, and convinces more people he’s right, WINS.

Back to the beginning, Enthusiasm. In years past, candidates have energized young people and then on Election Day the youngins’ forget to go to the polls. [See the Bart Simpson for President episode] This year is a LITTLE bit different. Because Obama has gotten these youngins’ not only energized, but INVOLVED with the campaign AND he’s got them to INVEST in the campaign with their hard earned Nintendo Wii video game money, he’s virtually forcing them to go to the polls or have their beer money wasted.

Little story, I used to organize parties in college. One of the things I learned very quickly is that if you have a FREE party, people would be all RAH RAH about it, they’d show up, no one would be there then they’d turn around and leave. Throw the same party weeks later, make them pay 2 bucks, and what happens? All the same people show up, but because they paid to get in so they’d stay and “not waste their money” (yeah, a whole 2 dollars) and the party would be a blast because they all stayed and they all partied together.

Those 5 dollar, 10 dollar, and 25 dollar donations are all but guaranteeing that these young kids that don’t normally show up at the polls, will follow through and cash in on their Obama investment.

Oh and yeah, about these kids. They typically don’t get counted in polls. Its sort of like Nielson ratings. Millions of people watch TV in bars, college dorms, or in Best Buy (the chairs and surround sound is awesome). None of those things are factored into Nielson ratings points. Nielson measures households and they freely admit they have no way of accurately sampling those nomadic viewers. Same things with these polls. The VAST majority of students primary method of contact is Cellphone. Most polls don’t contact folks on cellphones. So Millions of potential voters who could go 60-40 or 70-30 Obama-McCain aren’t represented in the polls.

Let’s look at the other side. Fortunately, I work for an organization that makes calls on behalf of the Heritage Foundation as well as MANY left wing organizations so I get to see both sides of the politcal spectrum. The Heritage foundation is an Uber right wing think tank. These are people who aren’t happy with Bush “Cause he done made the government too big.” Think, Reagan. It’s a tax exempt organization so we can’t Bash a candidate in favor of another BUT… If you want to get some one to donate you can bash Nameless faceless Liberals, then let them do all the talking. It’s completely legal to say something along the lines of “These liberals are ruining everything. Look at this election, there’s a Republican running, a Democrat running, but there isn’t a single Dyed in the Wool Conservative running.” Most likely the flame start shooting out of the phone as the Donor goes on an angry Tirade about both candidates and how “It’s like we have to choose the lesser of two liberals” (yes, that was from an actual quote 72 year old Lady from Georgia). Then you switch on to how the Heritage wants to build a support base for Conservative idea and that’ll foster more conservatism and more conservative candidates for the future. Then they give us money. That’s money that’s not going to McCain but going to a group that has consistently been to the right of McCain. These are people that would vote for an evil Reagan Zombie if he was on the ballot with Mac & B.

Now how many of those Lesser of Two Liberal voters are gonna stay home or Vote Bob Barr? Hmmm. That’s the mystery. By any measure the polls are poop we’ll see who is the winner in November.