The Republican Party Should Just Split Already: Part Two

Back in my July 8 post, The Republican Party Should Just Split Already, I suggested that the Republican Party should split in two because it was fairly obvious that "the conservatism that is supposed to define the current Republican Party has different meanings to different people. Fiscal conservatives may have nothing in common with religious conservatives other than the term conservative" and it has become increasingly clear that the two groups have differing agendas. I concluded that "The Republicans should get on it with it but first they would have to decide who keeps the Republican Party name and who becomes the newly chartered Conservative Party, a fine name I believe."

Well, it looks like the Conservative Party is taking shape as witnessed by the battle in NY's 23rd district between the "Conservative" (Republican) candidate, Doug Hoffman and the "Republican" candidate, Dede Scozzafava. Sarah Palin and Dick Armey have jumped in on the side of Hoffman, soundly criticizing Scozzafava, the GOP sanctioned candidate, as not being conservative enough, and have expedited an armload of outlander cash Hoffman's way. In this fairly unremarkable district that has been solidly Republican since the 1800s, the schism within the Republican party took center stage. Scozzafava decided to drop out before tomorrow's vote due to a big slide in her poll numbers but she did something remarkable and endorsed the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, clearly demonstrating that the schism is widening.

Since Reagan, when I first became cognitively aware of the party politics, it never seemed right to me that religious conservatives from the heartland and corporate Republicans shared the same party. Somehow they managed to keep this all cobbled together until last year when the base of the base whipped up by Palin, Joe the Plumber and the like could no longer go unnoticed by the big money folks on K Street and Wall Street. I don't know how much longer they indeed to sit on the fence and watch the gutting of the Party.

I'm sure there is plenty more to come whatever the outcome tomorrow. But the Peter Principle lurks and one of these narrow-minded hypocrites could make a serious run for President. This is, after all, America.

Live From Wasilla, Palin Quits

Tomorrow, thousands are set to descend upon downtown Los Angeles for the memorial ceremony for Michael Jackson to be held at the Staples Center, where he was recently rehearsing for his world tour. Last Friday, Sarah Palin hoped not to ascend to anything by attempting to quietly quit the governorship of Alaska on the eve of July 4th and under the shield of Michael Jackson media saturation. She was unable to outfox CNN who temporarily diverted from their "all Jackson all the time" coverage to capture her surprise news conference live from her Wasilla backyard. Fox resorted to getting Hannity and Greta on the phone for mislaid commentary.

The hurried nature of Palin's resignation complete with a near incoherent speech about saving Alaska from herself has led to speculation about her desire to earn some real cash to help to combat her mounting legal fees now topping $500,000 due to countless ethics charges or to hit the Republican fundraising circuit in preparation for a 2012 Presidential bid. Since she has not made her intentions clear, the first order of business is to convince her fellow Alaskans and "lower 48" Americans that she is not a quitter having served only 2 1/2 years of her first 4 year term as Governor.

Perhaps Alaska was too small for her ambition, after all she is only the star of the equivalent of a TV Show. It is time for her to do what other TV stars do, leave the show at the height of their fame for a career in the big leagues, it is movie star time. I'm sure she will make lots of money and I pray this is the route she is choosing for I truly hope that she doesn't plan to put us through another incomprehensible run for higher office.

His Story

My fingers are crossed, my toes are crossed, my nerves are crossed...I'm not sure I can put together a cohesive sentence. This is the eve of a real opportunity for Americans to step forward into a better era and a better history. Tomorrow, history will be made regardless of which party wins this election. This is the only instance where Barack Obama and Sarah Palin can be mentioned together in the same light; he may become the first black President, she may become the first female Vice President.

It is pretty clear Barack Obama should win this historic round. Barack Obama has run a masterful campaign and he has transcended the realm of mere candidacy to become the leader of a movement; a movement that will shake America out of its hallowed racial barriers towards an America that is inclusive of all and a positive beacon for the rest of the world. As Obama states often, the road will not be easy even if he is chosen to lead, for the America that he deserves to be handed tomorrow will be a mere shadow of its former self, hollowed out by a self-serving, arrogant leadership that has bled it dry of whatever virtue it had left.

To my dear friends, who have walked the walk, talked the talk, and pounded the streets to gather support for Obama; who sacrificed their time and energy to promote victory for the rest of us, may your tireless efforts be rewarded tomorrow and may we all share in the glory.

John McCain Campaign an Embarassment to Republican Party

Sarah Palin has become a caricature and unfortunately has taken John McCain with her. Now he is standing at the podium calling out for "Joe the Plumber," who apparently didn't show up and Fox News is interviewing "Tito the Builder," Sarah Palin's new sidekick. To make matters worse, Sarah Palin has "gone rogue" for even attempting to say a few words of her own, and all of this is wrapped up in a bubble of negativity, race-baiting, and mixed messages. How did John McCain stoop so low?

Throughout all of this, Barack Obama has run a tight campaign, raised a gazillion dollars, adhered to an inspiring message of change, appeared Presidential and has appeared completely on message every-time, is thoughtful and engaging, has rally's filled with cheers while McCain's have been filled with boos, has inspired many Americans to vote and be engaged in the political process for the first time and yet there are still so many Americans who say they are still undecided. How in a thinking brain can Americans look at the evidence and still consider John McCain and the Republican party worthy contenders for the Presidency?

And, I haven't even mentioned the economic meltdown that should be sweetening Obama's pot as far as Americans are concerned. Yet, these people will apparently vote themselves out of economic existence because they are so ignorant that they can't cross the great racial divide to vote for the best Presidential candidate of any race that America has had in a long time; an intelligent contender who actually has a good chance of leading us out of this mess. It is virtually impossible for anyone in the thinking set to comprehend how Americans can be so ignorant after all of this time that they can watch the talking heads on Fox News laugh and mock any guest with even a remote sense of intelligence.

Americans are out there standing up today shouting out at the McCain/Palin rally "Obama is a muslim, Obama is a terrorist" and building up so much antagonism that skinheads were arrested this week for attempting to plan to assassinate Obama. The McCain campaign is stoking this fear. Why would the Republican Party let itself be hijacked by anti-intellectual, pro-America, pro-white, pro-evangelist faction to the point where they are considering Sarah Palin for an important leadership role going forward? What will happen to the idea-based conservatives like Peggy Noonan, David Frum, Chris Buckley, David Brooks and others who believe in the Reagan's Republican party of small government, low taxes and free-market capitalism?

Hopefully they will have the next 4 years to think about it.

Pre-Election Fatigue

Since I started my job, the television sets in the break-rooms have all been tuned to CNN, all day, every day, without a break. I wonder if someone will turn the channel, maybe, after the election. I am not sure if this is the custom or borne of necessity; satisfying the news-addicted selves that many of us have become. Nevertheless, every time you get water, coffee, prepare your breakfast and/or lunch, there is one of them talking, Obama, McCain, Palin and sometimes Biden; his rallies get the least coverage.

When I come home, we have the news on, with a little more flexibility in that we flip through all the news channels, listening to all the pontification on the election as if it is a sporting event; the play by play with all of the obvious commentary and conclusions batted about with authority. The all-knowing pundits making fools of themselves especially those sincerely defending the erratic actions of the McCain/Palin campaign; so dark, so extreme the comedy. But now, I have to say, I am absolutely sick of it!

Today, as I was in the kitchen and Obama was on, a co-worker commented that he was just as "dirty as the rest of them," and he was not saying anything new; it was the same old yadda yadda that he's been hearing for weeks, no months, probably a year at least. Before I go on I must interject, why do citizens expect impeccable behavior from politicians when the nature of the beast dictates that you have to get your hands dirty to succeed? It is a necessary evil if you want to survive; serving the people sometimes means subverting the people in order to continue to serve the people.

No politician can be pristine yet the expectation of some kind of morale facade is deeply rooted in the election process. And, for the duration of said election cycle, the politicians sling mud at each other while we all pat ourselves on the back resplendent in our candidate's ability to take a moral highground just a little higher than the opponent's. Satisfactory. Job well done. And if not, what he or she should or should not have said with the same jawboning of an academic exercise. Filler. Commercial. Filler. Flip the Channel.

Anyhow, I digress. I deftly steered my co-worker to some non-partisan websites and explained that one can separate the stump from the message and when you dig deep into the message you get a different picture of the candidates that will clarify all the sound-bites. After he conceded that I was right about Obama, he happily went on and I happily scored another one for the cause. But, I couldn't help that he was right about the elections season overload. I am starting to turn away from all the noise; not just me, many of us are now suffering from pre-election fatigue, all wanting the election to be over, to be done with the incessant partisan rant and to be happy that we have elected a better President than what we now.

So tonight, I found TiVo again and tried to reclaim some connection to the fall TV season. What, 6 episodes behind on Mad Men? I've got a lot of catching up to do.

The Politics of Race

The Meltdown of the McCain/Palin campaign over the last few days is making me start to feel bad for John McCain. After all, he has sacrificed his reputation for this campaign though, thank goodness, America will forget in due time. Two things were going to happen when John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate; she was going to energize the Republican conservative base and perhaps skim off former Hillary supporters who, in their disappointment appeared to reject Barack Obama out of hand or she would personify exactly what she was thought to be at the time, a neophyte lacking the credentials to be Vice President.

It seems that the latter has come to pass and though we are not shocked, we are still surprised to see it unfold before us. And, though she was chosen to energize the base, none of us could have imagined the devisiveness that has come to characterize her campaign and by extension, John McCain's. From her mouth has emanated a charged vocabulary with an undercurrent no doubt influenced by her virtual isolation in Alaska.

On the eve of the possible of election of a 1/2 black man as President, America reveals its racial divisions once again for all the world to witness. This is supposed to be the greatest country in the world yet the Republican candidates for Presidency stoke an unspoken but understood prejudice that is seized upon with gusto and widespread support. This is kind of frightening. It reminds me of the division that we had in the democratic primaries where Hilary had to deliver her people to Obama much to the distress of herself and her supporters - an open wound fueled by the competitive division between a white woman and a black man both vying to become the historical first President of their kind. In time, Democrats came around to support the greater good, a Democrat for President.

Now with the increasingly hostile and corrosive campaign that Palin spews and McCain condones, we are left with people who have a more insidious separation, a racial divide rooted in hundreds of years of history that was only equalized by law less than 50 years ago. The very same separation that may cost Obama the election if Americans fail to look beyond race once they hit the voting booth; proving that the Bradley effect is no myth, but reality.

Benefits of Racial Doubt

The politics of race is back in the spotlight as America is poised to elect its first black President. The McCain/Palin supporters are being reminded of this on a daily basis as they are wooed on the pretense that they are more "pro-America" than Obama/Biden supporters, that Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein, has muslim/terrorist implications certainly heightened by his connection to Bill Ayers, former '60s radical protest bomber now conveniently recast as a domestic terrorist, and by their own rejection of Obama, simply because he is a black man.

General Colin Powell said it best this weekend when he crossed his party-line to endorse Senator Obama for President stating eloquently that the Republican party was narrowing in its scope, in that it was now tending to be more exclusive than inclusive. And, if in fact Obama was a muslim which he is not, what is so wrong with being American and muslim? Why should/would this be a limiting factor in the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Unfortunately for Obama, in a vast swath of the country, old prejudices die hard; ignorance and provincialism has rendered a large portion of the conservative, fundamentalist Christian population, unrepentingly racist. Gov. Sarah Palin has been out preaching to the choir, allowing them to draw the very conclusions that they are expected to draw to great affect. Sen. John McCain, having been subject to a racial mudslinging by George Bush and Co. during the 2000 Republican primaries, must be turning in his sleep as he struggles to rectify his campaign's cognitive dissonance; dependence on these "rural folk" for votes causing him to implicitly condone their racial outlook by omission of strong condemnation.

Democratic Sen. John Murtha stated a few days ago that his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist, basically a bunch of rednecks and he has implored them to look beyond race and listen to what Obama is saying. This has been the battle cry of many Obama supporters, including union leaders and the like in these traditionally working class (white) areas.

Disaffection with the Republican party together with the economic decline, housing bubble and Wall Street collapse has inadvertently propelled many rural Americans to rethink their racist underpinnings simply because the democratic nominee for President is telling them what they want to hear and just so happens to be a black man. What a turnaround! Black Americans aren't used to getting the benefit of the doubt.

Republican or Democrat: Which Side God?

I grew up in a Christian family that is pretty devout; not just showing up at Church on Sundays but attending weekly bible study and religious events. I, on the other hand, never internalized this part of my upbringing and to this day my family spends countless hours trying to convert me once and for all to the fold. So far I have remained unmoved until this week when the urge to pray has overtaken me as I witness the current political, social, and economic climate in the United States.

Christian conservative values are most aligned with and championed by the Republican party yet Republicans have by far engaged in the most immoral behavior over the last 8 years; there is not one single aspect of this Republican government that has not been cited for deceptive and/or criminal behavior. Yet, the Republicans continue to hold the monopoly on religious allegiance even while construing falsehoods and stirring the pot of prejudice and ignorance.

Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has been out spewing the most vitriolic attacks on Sen. Barack Obama this week with little concern that the Alaska legislature was due to report today on whether she abused her power as Governor. What brazen gall? Unfortunately, they found her "slap on the wrist" guilty so it will be a wash; her evangelist base has already forgiven her every transgression thus far. Why does belief in God give you a free pass to despicable behavior?

With the backing of conservatives and evangelists everywhere, the McCain-Palin ticket has been encouraged to win at any cost; resorting to the politics of fear as the only strategy left at their disposal. It does not seem like the most Christian-like behavior especially when juxtaposed with the Obama campaign's message of hope. What does this say about America and its democracy? After all of this nastiness, the polls still indicate a fairly close race and this is why I am praying. Dear Lord, please be on the side of Obama. Amen.

Republican Platform Defies Logic

Thomas Frank writing in today's Wall Street Journal captures my thoughts today, I need not say anymore:

"OK, let me get this straight: The central axiom of conservative Republicanism is that government is inherently corrupt and can't do anything right.

Over many years of ascendancy, conservative Republicans have filled government agencies with conservative Republicans and proceeded to enact the conservative Republican policy wish list -- tax cuts, deregulation, privatization, outsourcing federal work, and so on.

And as a consequence of these policies our conservative Republican government has bungled most of the big tasks that have fallen to it. The rescue and recovery of the Gulf Coast was a disaster. The reconstruction of Iraq was a disaster. The regulatory agencies became so dumb they didn't even see the disasters they were set up to prevent. And each disaster was attributable to the conservative philosophy of government.

Yet now we are supposed to vote for more conservative Republicans because we learned from the last bunch of conservative Republicans that government just doesn't work."

VP Debate Delivers As Expected

The Vice Presidential debate tonight will probably deliver as expected. After all, the stakes have been set so low that as long as Sarah Palin proves she can walk and chew gum at the same time, she will have done well. No matter how well he performs, Joe Biden will be Joe Biden so he will not have any measurable affect.

Palin has been so demonstrably incoherent in her last few interviews that any stringing of words together will be an achievement. The sad fact about Sarah Palin’s position tonight is that she is the representational recipient of every prejudicial and sexist treatment that could possibly be bestowed upon a woman. Since she was chosen as John McCain’s running mate just over a month ago, she has been shielded from the usual interaction with the media that is the normal rite of passage for any candidate, male or female, who runs for higher office.

We the people have the right to ask questions and the media is typically our surrogate in this regard. However, McCain’s campaign decided to put on the white gloves with her and browbeat all of the media outlets into compliance screaming bias and elitism and every ignorant smear in the book. The result is that the most popular governor in the United States, who originally started out smart, charming, brash, and forthright, has devolved into a clueless, unworldly, fundamentally incurious sycophant right before our very eyes. When your own words are used verbatim in a comedy sketch, the only people that are still on your side are the diehard Republicans, albeit those with a lower IQ.

Unfortunately, the McCain campaign overplayed their hand and left enough room for us to draw the same conclusion they had that she was not adequately prepared to assume the role of Vice President at this juncture. They should have let her talk to her instant fans, all day, everyday, and they may have grown to love her more and may not have be doubtful of her abilities on the eve of what will prove to be her defining moment. Alas, McCain mishandled her well pretty much how he has handled all women. If we vote this woman into office, she will undo every benchmark to equality that women have fought for and kept; for this, she cannot win. Maybe she can come back in a future campaign when, having learned her lessons well, she will be equipped to completely fool us the next time around.

P.S. She delivered on style but not substance; Biden delivered on substance but not style. Tie.

What a Difference a Weekend Makes...

Much clarity has been given to certain situations though many more waters have been muddied...

The Bailout Fails: In a vote of 228 Nay vs. 205 Yea, the House of Representatives failed to pass the $700 billion bailout package with a resounding 2 to 1 nay on the part of the Republicans. Thank you Republicans. There, I said it. I am happy this bill did not pass because I did not know all of the details and I think it was too large a sum to make such a hasty decision.

I understand that this is really about Commercial Paper and not bailing out Wall Street but then don't put forth a bill with little explanation granting vast powers to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who is from Wall Street and has private interests (mainly Goldman Sachs) to protect. There are many other methods, all equally valid, that would assist in returning liquidity to the Credit markets. This is about confidence in lending; banks and others are all undermined by their own lapsed judgment in lending. The Federal Reserve is doing all it can by dropping additional hundreds of billions into the global markets but still the Commercial paper market remains frozen. If banks don't lend to each other then small businesses and individual borrowers suffer the most. It is possible that the Fed is overextending itself, more to follow on this I am sure.

The rest of it is that the markets do need to correct; we accept correction in every other market except this one? In any case, a bailout package should, at its core, provide relief to struggling home owners; there has to be a provision to allow borrowers to re-negotiate their loans with a fixed interest rate between 6.5% to 7% and a longer loan term of 40-50 years. The point is the loan amount remains the same but the payments become more affordable and when the markets return to health these borrowers will be able to refinance to a shorter term loan or better interest rate. This way the prudent people who did choose affordable loans do not feel punished for being prudent.

Dow drops 777.68 - A Day That Will Live in Infamy: The Dow suffered one of the worse days in history dropping nearly 500 points the instant the House vote was closed; it was already hovering around $280 points down pre-vote. We watched it in real time; most of my coworkers checked in on the CNN Money site which crashed momentarily; MarketWatch, my preferred choice, stood firm though refreshed at an agonizingly slow pace. All hell instantly broke loose; political spin, partisanship blaming; John McCain claiming credit for bringing together the bailout package then having to sidestep himself when it failed damningly by his own party. Ouch. Also John McCain appeared with Gov. Sarah Palin in a joint interview to save her from remarks she made about Pakistan that he criticized Obama for saying in the debate. Double Ouch.

Saturday Night Live Palin Skit Dead On: Yet another Sarah Palin skit was unveiled on Saturday night this weekend with a send-up of Gov. Palin's interview with Katie Couric. All it required was Tina Fey, who does a very convincing comic caricature of Palin, essentially espousing verbatim Palin's exact phrases from the interview. Hilarious but sad; Palin is living the Peter Principle. Enough said.

Last But Not Least: This is the most engrossing reality show on record as we watch our economy and politics explode, the Republican party implode and the Democratic party standing to bear the brunt of this economic disaster if Obama is elected. He will be blamed if the devastating outcomes of this debacle persist over the next 4 years and of course, it will be doubly damning because he is 1/2 a black man. Sad but true. At the end of the day, politics and fear aside, we all have to give ourselves a financial housekeeping. Plan for the worst and you will survive. The net effect of all of this is that decrease in consumer spending will kill our GDP splintering all industries and the credit card market will be next in line to send up its wave of bad debt. It does not look pretty out there. What were the economic terms that we had before "market correction?" Depression, recession, inflation? Think about McCain & Palin leading us through these times...try not to cringe while doing so.

Who Would Want to Lead This Country?

How is it that Sen. John McCain, a rich old white man from Arizona can command the same poll results as Sen. Barack Obama who is clearly promising us a different America? John McCain can be the same as George Bush and practically unoriginal but Barack Obama has to be the most extraordinary black man to even have a chance to be President.

How do Americans let the Republican party convince them that Barack Obama is elitist because he worked hard to attain the education that we routinely tell Americans will pave their way for a brighter future? Yet, John McCain, the son and grandson of Admirals who benefited from his military connections and his wife’s wealth, were it not for being a POW, gets a free pass from being labeled “privileged.”

After today’s antics with John McCain’s rush to Washington to be the hero of the proposed bailout plan, then watching the plan unravel under stress of a protest plan submitted by conservative house Republicans and the injection of Presidential politics – Barack Obama was compelled to be present - then not saying much but staking his appearance at tomorrow’s Presidential debate on an outcome coupled with Sarah Palin’s utterly unintelligible answers in her interview with Katie Couric, an interview where many of the questions were similar to those previously asked by Charlie Gibson, and she still did not have any good answers for, which clearly shows that she should not have been sequestered and should have been given the opportunity to practice and now appears to be undermined by a lack of confidence, and you have the recipe for campaign disaster. Thank goodness the campaign is run by Karl Rove acolytes; what will they pull out of their hat tomorrow?

On another note, with Washington Mutual (WAMU) seized by the FDIC this evening becoming the worst bank failure in U.S. history, underscores the urgency of some sort of bailout plan. Deciding on what avenue to take now seems to be the bane of Congress and the American people, none of us having the breadth of knowledge and understanding of complex financial instruments and how this all functions in today’s global economy, except Congress is supposed to go on recess tomorrow so they can all run home and campaign making a push for a decision tomorrow guaranteed to yield nothing less than disaster.

While the rest of the world is laughing at America, they are because if I didn’t witness this in real life, I would think that I was watching a movie; a satirical circus pageantry envelopes the most powerful country in the world while it attempts to choose the next leader of the free world and heal the economic calamities befalling it. An educated black man arises to save the people from ruin because the maniacal white man, who comes complete with the charming, but disarming, sidekick hailed as mavericks as they unleash their diabolical plan for world domination, finally and suddenly implode leaving trail of Republican destruction behind them.

Sadly, this is not a movie, this is the great meltdown of 2008. If you choose McCain-Pailn, you deserve your own stupidity and the boat you rode in on it or you choose Obama-Biden, who though better suited for the job, will face the greatest odds challenging a Presidency in the history of the nation with little margin for error. Good luck with that.

To All Who Want to Vote for McCain

Dear Americans, we can sit here and bicker over the most trivial of matters and continue to take our eye off the ball. The elephant in the room is the economy. No matter how you slice it, the government has followed Reagan's trickle down economic theory for the past 8 years while deregulating more industries and allowing us to get into a war that is costing us $10,000,000,000 a MONTH.

This economic policy is no longer working; our financial institutions, the government and most Americans are deeply in debt. The government is borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars from China and the Middle East to bail out our financial institutions. Are you people blind, deaf and dumb? The economic policy of the last 8 years is erasing the middle class every day.

Do not get duped again by the lies of the GOP. This is the party of George Bush, they are the ones who got us into this economic mess and now they have Americans believing that the same policies will get us out.

McCain will continue this economic policy and it will not help 95% of Americans. Walk down the street in your town and look around you at the economic desperation, your jobs being threatened, your neighbors losing their homes and your struggle to pay the bills. Is this really what you all want more of?

Vote for the GOP and vote yourself poorer, vote for more tax breaks for the rich, vote for more war, vote against separation of church and state and more importantly vote against America. They are not doing what’s best for America, they just want to keep their power. I'd rather fail with Obama and say at least we tried than do nothing for 4 more years.

Why Can’t She Speak?

During the Democratic Primaries, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigned for 18 months, every single question was asked, and every rumor was treated as news. They each went on numerous interview shows and participated in 20+ debates. Has everyone forgotten?

Sarah Palin has been in the race for almost 2 weeks now. She is running to be Vice President of the United States. The press, on behalf of the American people, has the right to ask questions; reserving or requesting special treatment for her undermines everything this woman has achieved.

Sarah Palin ran for Mayor and rose through the ranks until she ran for Governor. She should be disgusted that the McCain campaign is traipsing her out to stump the same convention speech day after day while sequestering her from answering any unscripted questions. McCain is really acting as if he doesn’t have any faith in her abilities. That is a shame. She should demand more respect than that; after all she is the Governor of a State; not a rinky-dink Senator.

Why does she need so much time to study for interviews? Her first quiz will be a lightweight gabfest with Charlie Gibson of ABC News later this week. Her silence and the need for all of these “crib notes” sessions makes the case more pressing; If she is really ready to be Vice President, why does she need so much prep time? What is the McCain camp afraid of? Why don't they trust her to speak for herself? Let her speak for herself! I, for one, want to know what she has to say.