Not a Big Truck

Saw this at the Dish.

Obama was strong here, starting at the 4:50 mark.  “You were wrong.”

OK, sorry about so many videos.  But some good stuff to share.

People forget that Reagan lost this debate with Mondale.  In a later debate Reagan uses the famous age-exploitation line which became the most memorable line from that debate season.  But, Mondale got the Gipper in this particular debate.

 
The animal rights issue is always intellectually interesting to me. And again it seems like comics and less than traditional political commentary has provided some of the most interesting insights during this election cycle. 

Rock makes a simple point: Americans seem to view Palin’s hunting habits and willingness to support hunting rights (killing wolves from airplanes) as a virtue while Vick is now in jail for animal cruelty. I think one could certainly argue that simply killing a creature is less “cruel” than training them for fighting and having them brutalized that way. But, still, not sure if I buy it.  Shooting a moose or any animal, tracking it for hours as it slowly bleeds to death for the entertainment of the hunter doesn’t seem to be that far off from having animals fight each other for entertainment of an audience.

Thoughts or things that I am missing?

No explanation required here. Just an old, tough, and proven senator giving a smackdown to Dan Quayle. So great.

I couldn’t disagree more with the attitude of the MSM toward Governor Palin’s foreign policy experience.  When she says that Alaska plays an important role in protecting the United States she should not be mocked. Have we all forgotten the important lessons from the epic film “Red Dawn?”

For those who have forgotten the details of that cautionary film…the Soviet armies invaded North America through, yep, you guessed it, Alaska! Palin knows what she is talking about. She is on the front the lines. One could argue that the reason we do not have Russian soldiers and their allies running wild in our hometowns, as in the clip above, is because Palin is there, in Alaska, monitoring Russian activities.

James Fallows over at The Atlantic provides a solid analysis of the Palin interview.  The key passage:

A further point. The truly toxic combination of traits GW Bush brought to decision making was:

1) Ignorance
2) Lack of curiosity
3) “Decisiveness”

That is, he was not broadly informed to begin with (point 1). He did not seek out new information (#2); but he nonetheless prided himself (#3) on making broad, bold decisions quickly, and then sticking to them to show resoluteness.

We don’t know for sure about #2 for Palin yet — she could be a sponge-like absorber of information. But we know about #1 and we can guess, from her demeanor about #3.   Most of all we know something about the person who put her in this untenable role.

The McCain campaign is running a dishonest and dishonorable campaign.  It has decided to throw out as many shiny metal objects as possible in hopes of distracting voters and the media from issues or stories that could be devastating to McCain’s candidacy.  Give them credit, they’ve been really good at it over the last few weeks.

Republicans and Democrats have used such tactics before. As an earlier post notes, however, Republicans tend to use them more often and, probably, more successfully. So, in that sense, this campaign hasn’t provided that much that is new in terms of dirty tactics.

What does seem remarkable about the McCain campaign is its apparent lack of an ideological core. What does it stand for? Why does he want to be president? What are Republicans bringing to the table that is different than the last eight years? What improvements have they made to the Goldwater/Reagan Republican party?

Bush at least had “compassionate conservatism” (2000) and the notion of exporting American democracy through hard power (2004).  Even if neither of those ideas materialized into something beneficial, it at least lent some sort of meaning to those campaigns. At this point, it seems like Republicans are running just to remain in power, offering no agenda.  Maybe I’m missing something, but “reforming Washington” just doesn’t seem like a guiding philosophy for a party, especially one that would be reforming the government that it has largely controlled for the last 8 years.   

Say what you will about Goldwater/Reagan Republicanism (it certainly had its limitations, but there was a governing philosophy there. Goldwater took a massive defeat in 1964, partly because he refused to compromise on his guiding principles. Reagan didn’t alter his positions to fit the electorate, he held his positions until the electorate moved to him. There was an intellectual current to that movement.

What is the intellectual current running through McCain’s candidacy? Country First? This lack of a vision for the country, I think, is the reason the McCain campaign focuses so much on winning the short-term battles in the media.  They release tough ad after tough ad to keep the attention of the media and to create the perception that they are winning, but seem to provide very little in terms of revealing any novel intellectual insights into how reform or change will be instituted in government. 

The campaign is trying to win this election to govern, but governing should be a means to an end. Some policies or some governing philosophy should be the end. The current Republican party is trying to govern for the sake of governing or, at most, just to prevent the Democrats from governing.

The Conservative party in Britain has been out of power for over a decade. Things were grim for that party during the Blair years. But while out of power, they reformed themselves, found a fresh intellectual core, and adjusted their conservatism to meet modern challenges. Relying on Thatcher’s conservatism no longer sufficed.

The Republican party must recognize that it will have to cut its ties to Reaganism and find a new intellectual current to revive its party. Such a revival will be difficult to occur while still in control of the government. Campaigning simply for the right to govern and not for the opportunity to infuse new ideas will only delay the inevitable reconfiguration that American conservatism must undergo.

Then again, as an Obama supporter, maybe I’m just hoping the Republican take a dive.

This movie was on TV tonight.  One of the great sports movie speeches.  And, hey, if there are any down Obama supporters out there, maybe it will get them fired up again.