The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught.
Marquis de Vauvenargues
Blog Question of the Day
"How can there be interstate highways … in Hawaii?" - Greg R., Greenbelt, MD (Straight Dope)
Okay, I know what you're thinking: if Alaska can have a Bridge to Nowhere, why can't Hawaii have a Highway to Nowhere?
Hmmm. There is a word on the tip of every liberal's tongue, but he just can't seem to bring himself to say it: figures, tabs, worths, quotations, tolls, duties, premiums, rates, charges, outlays, tariffs, amounts, prices, expenses, values, damages, levies, costs, imposts, user fees... Interstate, intrastate: who cares? "Don't tell me words don't matter..." [Actually, H1-H3 (not IH-1...) are not the only single-state IH-compatible roadways.]
I wonder whether the next time Obama visits his home state, he'll take the scenic route back....
Election Eve Potpourri
It should be a good day for Romney tomorrow; two Arizona polls has him up by over 15% over Santorum, and Governor Brewer endorsed him over the weekend. Santorum's better shot to win is Michigan where one poll had him up by 2 points (but that one (Mitchell/Rosetta Stone) seems to have more undecideds and fewer points for both Romney and Paul versus the other recent polls). The others do show a slight tightening of Romney's lead to 2 to 4 points, probably within the level of statistical significance, and Intrade showed a collapse of Romney's odds to about 52%. After the Colorado collapse in the polls to the caucus, Romney can't afford to give Santorum a hugely symbolic victory in his home state. I would think that Romney wouldn't have taken time from his schedule to visit Daytona (site for a major auto race) if his internal polls didn't look so well.
I saw on Drudge late today a link of Gingrich starting to take on Santorum, painting him as a Big Labor Republican. For a politician with enough street smarts to rise to Speaker of the House, Gingrich should have known better to take on Romney at this stage, in essence making the case for Santorum. The same case against Romney had been made again by non-Romney conservatives for a year: they had stymied his ability to rise in the polls but he had always retained a consistent base. If Gingrich wanted to go one-on-one with Romney, he had to take out his closest non-Romney competition--which was Santorum. If I was Romney's campaign manager, I couldn't have plotted a better strategy than for Gingrich to overreact against Romney and show that he lacked the temperament to be President. If Gingirch had analyzed the problem correctly, he would have seen that he lost his support, not to Romney but to Santorum. He had to convince his former non-Romney supporters that Santorum was no Newt Gingrich. If he took out Santorum, the non-Romney supporters would come back to him. Gingrich regained momentum in South Carolina, in part because Romney played prevent defense in the South Carolina debates, a major tactical error, and Santorum had failed to leverage his Iowa win.
Gallup tracking shows Santorum, on a national basis, has now fallen 4 points under Romney, a 14-point relative drop over the last week or so. Politico still has Santorum up by 2, but I don't trust the Politico poll: it's too inconsistent with the preponderance of other polls. For example, Rasmussen has Romney up by 2 over Obama, Gallup rates it a toss-up, but Politico has Obama ahead 53-43 and also has Obama's approval rating at 53%--the margin of his election victory in 2008. However, both Rasmussen and Gallup have POTUS approvals at 45% on the nose. We also see consistently polls showing only about a third of voters thinking the country is headed in the wrong direction: who are they going to blame for a country heading in the wrong direction: their own Congressman? The President, of course.
I'm not saying Romney is a shoo-in, assuming he gets the nomination. Romney's campaign has been inconsistent. The Romney campaign is running in a reactive (vs. proactive) whack-a-mole: Romney's campaign was unprepared for the recently resurrected Gingrich and then Santorum campaigns. I mean, South Carolina is near Gingrich's home base, and Missouri and Minnesota have a number of social conservatives that propped up Santorum's last minute rise in Iowa. (I'm not saying Romney is going to win every state, but if I was campaign manager, I would not be lapsing into prevent defense: I would be engaging in shock-and-awe politics.) I have not listened to the ads they've run against Santorum, but in my very popular February 14 post (I suspect it is due my rant against Ingraham where I go into some depth of what conservatism means--and personally, I think it's one of the best rants I've ever written), I absolutely demolish Santorum in a single paragraph, and I think I make Mitt Romney's case 5 times better than anything he's ever said on his own. If Mitt Romney ever read what I wrote, he would win the general election in a walk; I've written all he needs to do.)
Go back and read my post, but let me outline a few hints, if I was to play Romney's campaign manager. (Okay, I agree that I should learn to follow my own advice...My dissertation chairman used to say something to the effect it takes me 20 minutes just to introduce myself...):
- co-opt/mirror Obama's unflappable, charming personality.
- show a sense of humor about yourself. I'll give a very simple example: say that you thought while in Iowa you beat Obama's 2008 bowling score of 38. Then two weeks later, you got word two of Obama's remaining pins finally fell down. Or, say, over the fact his dad was born in Mexico: "You know, President Ford was from Michigan, too. I tried to tell the President how to eat a tamale..." There are a million of them.
- don't go into unnecessary detail, summarize your themes and couch them in pragmatic terms.
- run against Washington and smoke-and-mirrors budgets
- the buck will stop in the Oval Office: you will fix entitlements and an out-of-control budget, and you promise not to constantly whine over the $15T hole that Obama left the car in
- if asked why you want to be President, say that you want to restore old-fashioned American values of hard work, self-reliance, and integrity, that you want your children and grandchildren to have the same or even better opportunities you had, that you don't want to leave future generations with a massive debt hanging over their heads
- promise there will be genuine, not phony Obama-style bipartisanship: bipartisanship means more than gimmicks like an occasional Super Bowl party at the White House, an appearance at a Democrat retreat, or a beer in the Rose Garden. He wants a more respectful, civil tone in Washington, and he wants to hear solutions and compromise, not whining, finger pointing and the same old same old talking points. And he's going to start with his fellow Republicans.
- "ask not what your country can do for you: assume responsibility for yourself and your family, and take the opportunity to do what you can for your fellow countrymen in need with your time, effort, or resources"
- stress that you are looking to make a fresh start in Washington, one where you've learned from the mistakes of your predecessors with unsustainable spending binges (from now on, we learn to live within our federal income budget and don't spend money on things we can no longer afford) and we can't afford to spend American blood and treasure in foreign entanglements and resolving other nations' problems
- RUN A MOSTLY UPBEAT CAMPAIGN. Listen, if people don't know by now Obama's lack of leadership and administrative skills, do you honestly think you're going to be able to "educate" them? TREAT OBAMA WITH TACT. If and when he turns negative, ACT PRESIDENTIAL, smile, and STAY ON MESSAGE. Don't let him jerk your chain. I mean, I would run things like, "Times are tough. I've seen it; I've heard you. But we know America has always met its challenges, and I know we will overcome this time as well. I have dealt with companies in tough situations. I know it takes more than a nice speech at the White House to get us back on the right path: it take executive experience and hard work. I've seen and learned from the mistakes this President has made; I won't repeat them. I know I've got what it takes to get the job done, and when you invest your vote in me, together we will make a difference for our children's future. We will deliver them from the bondage of oppressive debt, unrealistic, broken political promises, and failed government."
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein
If I ran the Romney campaign, I would fashion the following bumper sticker: "HAD ENOUGH? IT'S TIME TO GET YOUR PRESIDENT CHANGED. Your Appointment Is Set For Nov. 6, 2012"
Who Are Your Favorite Presidents?
I was on some political website recently which asked me to choose my choices for my top 3 Presidents. I will probably write a series of commentaries with my choices, reviews of certain Presidents in my lifetimes, etc.
I will tell you who is NOT on my top 3 list: Abraham Lincoln. I've always had a queasy feeling about the commonly selected #1 President, Abraham Lincoln. (And, no, it's not because Bill O'Reilly has written a recent biography about him...) I suspect if you asked most people three things they liked about Lincoln, they would say: "1) he freed the slaves; 2) he freed the slaves; 3) he freed the slaves". As a libertarian conservative, I get that: I realize that the intrinsic inconsistency of a government based on the unalienable right of liberty that tolerated the institution of slavery.
But what if I told you this Presidential icon presided over the deaths of an estimated 618,000-700,000 (of somewhere between 3 to 4 million American men): MORE THAN ALL OTHER AMERICAN WAR DEAD COMBINED--that at least 1 of every 100 men were injured. Not by the hand of the imperial British, Germans, Communists or terrorists, but one's own countrymen. What if I told you that many people in the South had nothing to do with the institution of slavery, that Lincoln supported protectionist tariffs, which, if anything, made it more difficult for Southerners to sell their goods? What if I said that the Bill of Rights (e.g., habeas corpus) was violated by a President whom had sworn to uphold the Constitution? More on this in a future post...
In my next post, I'll talk about perhaps the greatest President whom never was, because tragically the GOP failed to nominate him. If he had become President, there never would have been a Vietnam War, and our history would have been changed forever. (Imagine, for instance, if there had never been a Vice President Richard Nixon.) He was part of an American political dynasty, like the Adams', the Kennedy's, and the Bush's. If you haven't guessed by now, 4 more hints: (1) are you lucky enough to live in a "right to work" state? (2) He is widely considered one of the 5 greatest US senators of all time, (3) his dad become a member of SCOTUS after serving as President, and (4) he was featured in John F. Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage" for taking a controversial position after WWII (and I've also agreed with), which probably resulted in his not getting the nomination.
Political Humor
"President Obama talked about rising gas prices today. He focused on the positive things his administration has done when it comes to energy prices. So, in other words, it was the shortest speech he's ever given." - Jay Leno
[Well, of course, there're business taxes, which can fund the payroll tax cut, which funds the gas tank, which funds business profits, which funds the Treasury. In other words, Obama finally found a recycling program that works..]
"President Obama is starting to get a little overconfident. In an interview with Univision radio, he said, 'My presidency isn't over yet, and I've still got five more years.' Even his predictions are over budget." - Jay Leno
[I want to check out Obama's second-grade math grades...I knew that we should have checked after he counted 57 states.]
"British parliament says it is very likely a terrorist could explode a nuclear pulse bomb in outer space, and it could take out our entire electronic grid. No emails. No texts. No cell phones. How relaxing would that be?" - Jay Leno
[Abdul was so pleased that he went online to boast of his accomplishment. Say, what's wrong with this stupid thing? Uh-oh.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Paul McCartney & Wings, "Venus and Mars/Rockshow"
