Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God Bless AGT 2010 Runner-Up Jackie Evancho
I'm sad over 10-year-old soprano Jackie's loss in tonight's finale of America's Got Talent. [When I was in sixth grade, I would have had such a crush on her.] I even voted like a Democrat last night (i.e., I voted more than once). It was wonderful seeing Jackie singing with one of her idols, Sarah Brightman (in fact, I own multiple Brightman CD's). But to be honest, I can't see an opera singer being a successful stage act in Las Vegas, never mind a 10-year-old whom should be getting a good night's sleep before school tomorrow.
It's too bad there aren't different age-group competitions (e.g., "America's Kids Have Talent!"); you would think Disney would have picked up on something like that, say with full-ride scholarships to the college of their choice to finalists...
Castle's Refusal To Endorse O'Donnell and Rove's Analysis: Thumbs UP!
Steele's Call to Unite Behind O'Donnell: Thumbs DOWN!
I had to count to 10 tonight as I listened to Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin run down Congressman Mike Castle. Let me make myself clear: I am not a Republican shill; I have not volunteered for the party or any campaign, I have not contributed to the party, I've never been a candidate, etc. I end up voting GOP in large part by default because there is almost no Democrat I can vote for in good conscience.
I didn't like Palin and the other outsiders getting in the middle of last year's NY-23 special election; their intervention resulted in losing a seat held by the GOP for well over 100 years. Bill Owens then promptly supported progressive healthcare bills. The Tea Party, rather than focusing, say, on the Democrats, are focusing on defeating the most viable GOP candidates in purple states. You name it: Florida, New York, Kentucky, Nevada, Alaska, and now Delaware: in each case nominating a candidate with far less appeal to independents and moderates. Much of it driven by out-of-state activists. (I do think the Tea Party-endorsed candidates in Florida, Kentucky, and Alaska will probably win.)
I think O'Donnell's election victory is a moral indictment of the Tea Party movement, and I do not believe that Mike Castle should endorse a less qualified candidate with serious character issues. No, Mr. Steele, I will not be endorsing or supporting Ms. O'Donnell. If I was voting in Delaware, I would write in Mike Castle. I didn't think it was wrong for Lieberman not to endorse Lamont in 2006 after a close loss on external support to Lamont.
Time to Rant on Activists Undermining Bipartisan Leadership
I started this blog just before the general election campaign in 2008. I had come out early for John McCain; his prescient position on post-liberation Iraq and courageous leadership for the surge and on immigration were factors, but in a certain sense I felt John McCain had paid his dues. He had run a strong early campaign against Bush in 2000. If John Kerry had convinced him to cross party lines in 2004 and join him on the ticket, Bush probably wouldn't have been reelected. Not only that, but Bush's approval ratings were abysmal, and in a change election year, it was clear that any viable GOP candidate in the battleground states had to be able to separate himself and his policies from Bush.
I realized that the progressive wolfpacks would not tolerate any conservative, including a big-tent conservative like myself, promoting McCain to prolong their Presidential ambitions. I went onto some pop conservative websites and provided a positive statement on behalf of McCain (for some odd reason, the McCain campaign had zero presence in these forums). I soon found myself facing media conservative wolfpacks. All the usual suspects (Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, etc.) were vehemently anti-McCain for his alleged RINO (Republican in name only) sins, particularly his initial votes against the 2001/2003 tax cuts, the unpopular immigration bill, campaign finance reform, etc. I don't mind the give and take of an honest debate, and as you might expect from reading my blog, I scrupulously documented my defense of McCain, quoting from his remarks on the Senate floor during the tax debates. What became very clear, though, was nobody else writing in those forums ever went beyond, say, Rush Limbaugh's talking points. No matter what I said and how well I documented it, these guys had no interest in the truth. There was just an almost religious hatred for what they self-righteously regarded as heresy from their vision of media conservatism.
I do not like activists, progressive or conservative, knocking off mainstream candidates. To this day, I still can't believe that Barack Obama knocked off Hillary Clinton. He really didn't do it in the primaries per se--the primaries resulted in proportional delegate assignment. Where Barack beat Hillary was in the caucus states where super-motivated Obama supporters nearly swept all delegates in state after state. I'm still amazed that Bill Clinton's network was outmaneuvered.
Political Humor
"According to a new report, 41 of President Obama's staffers now owe the government more than $831,000 in back taxes. When asked if they could just keep avoiding taxes, they said, 'Yes we can! Yes we can!'" –Jay Leno
[No wonder President Obama concluded his pep talk at the Treasury Department with: "We are the ones we've been waiting for..."]
An original:
- VP Joe Biden said that O'Connell's victory over Congressman Castle in yesterday's Delaware US Senate GOP primary proved that "no moderates need apply". At least I think that's what he said; I need to double-check the original source: Neil Kinnock's published opinion in the London papers.
Musical Interlude: The American Songbook Series
Billie Holiday, "These Foolish Things"
