Friday, November 07, 2008

Throw Joe Lieberman under the Bus

Harry Reid met with Senator Joe Lieberman yesterday. Joe Lieberman, while ostensibly a democrat came out in support of John McCain. That in itself does not seem to be worthy of ridding the Senate caucus of him. But Lieberman did not let it go at a simple endorsement; he gave a keynote speech at the Republican convention. If as if that were not enough; he then took to the road with McCain, I can't count the number of times I have seen a camera shot of a McCain Campaign speech with a grinning Lieberman in the background; his feckless head bobbing up and down in agreement with McCain.

People are entitled to their political opinions, but if yours run counter to the party you belong to and you actively work against the parties interest; it seems to me that the least you can do is strip the apostate of his chair positions. If Lieberman wants to continue to caucus with the Democrats that's all well and fine, but allowing him to keep his chair after working against the Democratic party is too much; and corrosive of party discipline. Harry Reid needs to throw Joe under the Bus.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Long Knives out for Palin

The national press was unquestionably hard on Sarah Palin and Republicans were outraged. With the election of Barack Obama however, we are now treated to the spectacle of Republican operatives fighting it out over Palin; and they make the national media look like a bunch of panty-waists.

Within the McCain campaign frictions began to emerge near the campaigns end with anonymous complaints that Palin was 'going rogue'. Back then going rogue largely meant that she spoke to the media more and was mildly critical of the McCain robocalls. Within the McCain campaign, there had to be a sense that she was a strategic error; in that while she excited the base she vitiated the line of attack that Obama was inexperienced. While she had more executive experience, she was clearly wanting in foreign affairs chops. Palin was excellent at the set speeches and rallies, but was wanting in the ability to respond thoughtfully to interview questions.

In the wake of Obama's victory on Teusday; the long knives have really come out. It will be interesting to see who will come to her defense. The steady drip of anonymous leakings have said that the Palins were like 'Wasilla Hillbilly's looting Nieman Marcus from coast to coast'. This cuts away her, "I'm just a soccer mom" persona.

The other leakings slash at her intellect; suggesting that she could not distinguish Africa as a continent and is unable to figure out what countries inhabit North America. This strikes me as more than just the typical finger pointing; she is being hobbled from running in 2012. There is a real fear among the moderates that she could end up as the standard bearer in the next election and would get hammered yet again; they are sparing no feelings in taking her down now.

In 1934 Hitler purged his own Brown shirts by having them killed. We have grown more civilized, but the virtual hobbling of Palin shows that ruthlessness endures. For all their talk about the viciousness of the elite media; Republicans are clearly masters of the game. They are furiously finishing what Tina Fey began.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Signs

Political signs are an interesting social interaction. When you post a sign in your yard you make a statement that I am for this and I don't care who knows it. There are always some folks that will disagree with your sign; so it is already a little 'in your face'. In our neighborhood we put up a sign for Kerry four years ago and shortly thereafter a neighbor put up a Bush sign. When the election came and it was a nail biter; we left our sign up. Kerry lost, but I couldn't quite bare to take my sign down; defeat just stung too much. Then I noticed that my neighbor left his sign up too; I have to say, it annoyed me. I left my sign up for several weeks as I struggled with accepting that the country still wanted more of Bush. To steal a phrase, I clung to my sign in bitterness.

As I was walking my dog around the block I noticed another Bush sign on a street several blocks from us that was still up, but there was a note taped on it. The note said "I am a Republican and I'm embarrassed that you leave up your sign. We won the election there is no need to rub it in the faces of our neighbors who voted for another party. I am raising two children and trying to teach them to be good sports; this sign makes it harder to tell them that Republicans are good sports." The note wasn't signed. I walked off and the next day saw that the sign was gone. When I went home that afternoon I finally found myself pulling the Kerry sign up and putting it in the garage. The day after that our neighbor finally pulled down his Bush sign.

Last night I watched as Obama's electoral votes crashed through 270 and he was the President Elect. It was a joyful moment and my family whooped and cheered. I went outside and took down my Obama/Biden sign. My wife was annoyed, but four years ago I remember thinking that if I ever am on the winning side my sign would come down straight away. Some times you can learn more from people that disagree with you than you can from your friends. I don't know that anyone will notice; but that anonymous Republican left me thinking about the proper use of signs; I hope this election finds him or her well.