There is an intentional policy of the Obama Administration to paint the Republicans as being dominated by intolerant conservatives, that moderates and independents are not tolerated or respected in the GOP. This message is not political advice aimed at reviving the GOP (bless Axelrod's heart!), but at moderate or independent voters. The case in point is NY-23, a Congressional district that went to a Democrat (Bill Owens) for the first time in over 100 years. (The fact is that the GOP retook the Virginia and New Jersey governor's mansions for the first time in years, despite Obama's numerous appearances and commercials on the Democrats' behalf, including the progressives' most potent weapon: Bush-bashing.)
First of all, the charge that pragmatic Republicans are not acceptable simply isn't true; for example, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, and John McCain were all nominated for President despite active opposition by a number of conservatives. Republicans have elected a number of moderate GOP governors or mayors, e.g., Schwarzenegger, Pataki, Crist, Pawlenty, governor-elect Christie, and Giuliani. The Maine US senators are notoriously moderate, as were a number of Bush Administration cabinet members (Powell, Gates and Ridge).
Second, the Democrats have little reason to talk, given the way the progressives tried to squeeze Gore running mate Joe Lieberman out of the Senate over his support of the liberation of Iraq. They can argue that they are open to pro-life or conservative Democrats, but the fact is that Democrat centrists have almost no shot at the Democratic Presidential nomination, where progressive activists are at least as motivated as media conservatives. The tolerance for Democratic conservatives or moderates is largely limited to those districts or areas where GOP Presidential nominees have performed well.
The fact is that Democrat Bill Owens did not win a majority of votes in NY-23; in fact, Conservative Hoffman lost by fewer percentage points than the Republican candidate remaining on the ballot received. The GOP nomination of a liberal (not moderate) Republican was decided in a political back room, not a primary ballot box. The Republican nominee pulled out of the race at the last minute, largely because her own polls indicated that her support had evaporated. You can say all you want about Sarah Palin supporting Hoffman, but it was the voters of NY-23 whom decided the race, over 45% of whom decided to vote for Hoffman, and Palin was not on the ballot. If Hoffman was out of touch with mainstream Republicanism, he would have lost by more than a minor percentage. The issue was not whether NY-23 would elect a moderate Republican; rather, the GOP and Democratic candidates were so similar on major policy issues that the Republican nominee repaid the loyalty of the back room deal by a last-minute endorsement and robocalls for Owens. Hoffman provided a real alternative to voters. Hoffman would have won if Republicans hadn't split their votes for two candidates running against Owens.
Sarah Palin's Book Tour: She Should Be Going On "Dr. Phil" (McGraw)
Now that Sarah Palin no longer poses a threat to aspirations of the Winfrey-endorsed Barack Obama Presidency, Oprah Winfrey is heavily promoting today's show; the rationale of Sarah's appearance has to do with this week's release of an expected runaway best seller, "Going Rogue". (A $5M advance certainly makes a book tour worth while, and it's interesting to note that Palin is booking the tour through swing states,) I've made my feelings known about Sarah Palin in several posts over the past 14 months and have no interest in her exploiting last year's race for personal gain (but, my being against the Politics of Envy, Palin's income taxes will definitely help bankroll Obama's spending spree).
I've mentioned in the past that one of the lessons I learned from my undergraduate days was not to rely on secondary sources, but given the very title of the book, Sarah Palin has made it clear she wasn't a team player during the campaign and in fact tries to make that a virtue (as well as not knowing the intricacies of national policies). Somehow she thinks that Joe Six-Pack will identify with her union-member, Costco-shopping household roots and they prefer someone like themselves in national leadership (remember Alan Jackson's lyric, "I'm not sure I could tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran. But I know Jesus and I talk to God"?)
I'm not sure I buy Joe Six-Pack wants someone like him to be President; he probably knows that he's not qualified to be President and definitely wouldn't want the responsibility or burden, and I suspect he realizes that someone without the necessary background and skills would probably be easily manipulated behind the scenes. We have not had a President with significant federal or bipartisan administrative experience elected since 1988 (Obama was 2 years into his rookie Senate term when he announced). The results seem to speak for themselves: nation building, massive federal deficits, a broken immigration system, chronically underfunded social security and Medicare, etc. Do we really believe that a former governor, without federal experience and whom quit in less than 3 years in office of a resource-rich, thinly-populated state without an income tax, is up to the task of being President of the United States?
Sarah Palin has had a year to come up with some rationalization for her poor performance in last year's race. She is blaming McCain campaign staffers and gotcha journalism for the disaster of the ABC and CBS television interviews. No, Sarah; whereas Alaskans may have thought it was endearing in 2006 that you had no positions on pending Alaskan legislation and sportsmanlike when you took anti-intellectual shots at your political opponents, that doesn't play well with the American people. And no contrived namedropping of ancient philosophers and classic American authors in her book can explain away her ludicrous rationalization of having a military base on Alaskan soil or trade missions with Russia and Canada constituted meaningful military and foreign policy experience, her inability to name a single Supreme Court decision beyond Roe v Wade, or her inability to articulate McCain's domestic policy views (beyond comfort-zone topics like energy exploration in Alaska).
What Sarah really needs is a visit with Dr. Phil McGraw, whom I'm sure would counsel her to "get real" about her own performance and to create a more positive, less polarizing politics. It's fairly easy to take negative shots at Obama: massive deficits, government empire building, unfocused and poorly prioritized domestic policy, vacillating military and foreign policy leadership, etc. No matter how many times Palin backers attempt to sugarcoat her resignation by buying at face value her explanations of expensive "frivolous" complaints (nobody quite ever explained how a government "reformer" like Palin, who at one time had sky-high approval ratings and warm bipartisan relations in Alaska, managed to attract so many money-draining ethics complaints), the fact is that Palin's campaign performance last year essentially poisoned her Alaska bipartisan coalition (as key GOP legislative foes, alienated by Palin's path to the governor's mansion and emboldened by her rapidly dropping public approval ratings, joined with furious partisan Democrats to block key Palin appointments and initiatives).
Here's the point: I think in 2012 we are going to see a focus on Republicans whom go beyond Obama's post-partisan rhetoric and actually will deliver on REAL bipartisanship and consensus to address salient American problems and REAL administrative competence and leadership. We need to go beyond Palin's bumper-stick politics and negative attacks to provide a positive message and substantive policy initiatives, not unlike the GOP's innovative 1994 "Contract with America".
CNN recently revealed its poll that revealed some 70% of the American public (myself included) do not believe Sarah Palin is qualified to be President. Republicans are not fools; the last thing they are going to do in 2012 is to nominate a person whom swing state moderate and independent voters do not believe is a credible candidate. I don't care that Karl Rove, whose political judgment is normally astute, opined that Palin can turn things around (I personally think that Rove, a Fox News contributor, is all too aware that Fox News is in the tank for Palin and is trying to put the best face forward for her prospects, but I don't buy for a second that he really believes it.)
The main reason McCain was able to resurrect his candidacy for the Republican nomination from single-digit support in late 2007 (and all the media conservatives opposed to him because of immigration and other issues) is because a decisive plurality GOP voters believed that he was the most electable of the declared candidates, given a highly unpopular incumbent Republican President. Polls over the past year have repeatedly shown that Palin has consistently finished behind Romney and Huckabee, despite massive publicity advantages.
Political Cartoon
Nate Beeler's cartoon makes the point that Islamic extremism isn't just "over there"; in an Internet world and rapid transportation, we should not be lulled into a false sense of security with the continent buffered by vast oceans. We need to be vigilant against home-grown terrorists whom put their extremist religious views above their American citizenship.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Linda Ronstadt Song
My nephews and nieces loved Spielberg's "An American Tale" cartoon movies about the experiences of a Russian immigrant mouse family (the Mousekewitz's). Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram had a huge pop ballad hit from the first movie: "Somewhere Out There". But my favorite song was Linda's solo hit from the sequel ("Fievel Goes West"): "Dreams to Dream". My niece Megan in particular empathized with Fievel's separation from his family in the original, and the sequel focuses on the move to the Wild West to find a better life. "Dreams to Dream" reminds me of Megan every time I hear it, and I'm sure Megan's preborn son will one day learn of Fievel's adventures. I love you, Megan!
I lose my way, no one cares
The words I say, no one hears
My life it seems is a world of dreams
Deep in the night, you'll find me
Dream and you're right behind me
Stay, if you will stay
We'll dream the night away
Dreams to dream
In the dark of the night.
When the world goes wrong
I can still make it right.
I can see so far in my dreams
I'll follow my dreams
Until they come true.
There is a star waiting to guide us shining inside us
When we close our eyes.
Come with me you will see what I mean
There's a world inside no one else ever sees
You will go so far in my dreams
Somewhere in my dreams your dreams will come true.
Dont let go if you stay close to me
In my dreams tonight you will see what I see
Dreams to dream,
As near as can be
Inside you and me, they always come true.
Inside you and me, they always come true.
