The Rising Tide Turns the City on a Hill Into an Island

The Rising Tide Turns the City on a Hill Into an Island

RE:http://notaboutme.typepad.com/not_about_me/2008/10/why-im-not-an-obamaite.html

Now it is a well reasoned island, but as the article below notes, the tide has turned even in the orthodox gulag of CO Springs and its environs.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/reportersblog/2008/10/colorado_hispanic_voters_push.html

I do think that a lot of people are counting chickens that have a few more days before they hatch, but change is in the air.

Actually Douglas, I can empathize with your angst. I felt the same way upon the election of Bush 2. It may only last 8 years, keep hope alive. Below is a YouTube just for you. Oh, and don't fire that Office Manger. She may know people you will need to know until the water recedes.

Killing the Vampire On My Right

Peggy Noonan on ABC's This Week - "He threw a Hail Mary pass w/ the choice of Palin .... A Hail Mary pass to a section of the Party at a time .... when they needed to redfine what they were .... to go broad to the United States of America ..... Palin on the stump has the authentic sound of the old hit the line ...Republicanism or conservatism.. it is the old party, it is a party dealing w/ old realities... it is not the future, it did not sound like the future, it was narrow, it is repetitive, it is always 1984... it is 2008...

George Will (on Palin's socialism comments) - "95% of what the government does is re-distribute wealth... we have socialism for the strong, that is, the well organized and well represented in Washington, like sugar growers"

Sam Donaldson - "(you can't buy) a $150,000 suit when you are trying to run a campaign about Joe the Plumber, this is nuts. What were these people thinking?"

What would life have looked like for the Republicans if McCain had moved to a more centrist broader approach? A fiscally conservative, pro-business growth, socailly conservative and strong defense approach as a way to the future rather than an appeal to the evangelical hard right and Republican orthodoxy. As measures of the miss-steps, Hispanics that have a friend in John McCain are fleeing the Republican party and Catholic support for McCain is down t0 41%. You can say that in hard times economics trumps culture, but if this is a party re-alignment (ala Regan or FDR) the Republican base will be looking in the mirror. Even if the economy is going to hell in a hand basket, feeding a Democratic congress, McCain could have played it into a Presidential win and essentially a checkmate. Obama has opened up the map with new combinations to get to 270. In my old political science class that was called a re-alignment, that happens about once every generation.

When you play checkers on the blue state/red state map, there are some (but few) scenarios where McCain can pull togther enough electoral votes to win. The end game battle will now be to see if the Senate races will break to get the projected 58-59 Democratic Senate seats to a clochure proof 60 and ensure control for the Democrats, not veto proof but clochure proof.

How amazing would it be if Al Franken in Minnesota becomes the 60th wooden stake in Rush Limbaugh's heart?

The End of Cowbells

The post XC State Championship & Homecoming Dance sleepover is breaking up. After 8 years and 2 daughters, I am no longer a cross country Dad, now & forever nomore. Lots of melancholia w/ Ms17 taking the final lap. I learned w/ the first that it becomes a very empty nest once they go and mine is still half full for a few more months.

On the brighter side it could be as little as 14 years +/- until I can be a cross country Grandpa and the cowbells will come out of the closet.

Pass the Fork Please?

So did Colin Powell stick a fork in McCain and Palin today on Meet the Press? Not just for the mere fact of endorsing Obama, but his rationale. He said that he has known MCCain for a long time, and respects him, and thinks he is qualified to be a good president. Powell said that he was evenly decided in September but he the looked at the last few weeks as a "final exam" for the candidates. He said that he was very disappointed in the tone that McCain adopted in the last few weeks, turning to reving the rabid base of the Republican party by trashing Obama's character. He said that tactic did not square with the John McCain he knew and was at odds with his own view of where the Republican party needed to go. He remarked that while he had difficulty bringing himself to not support his friend of 25 years but he had problems with McCain's reactions to the financial crisis and was seeemingly lurching from ideas to idea for solutions. Powell had particularly harsh words for the choice of Palin who he called unquailified to take on the job as vice president and sit a heart beat away from the Presidency, while someone like Biden would be up to the job if called upon. Powell delt deftly w/ the question of his support being just a black man supporting a black man by articulating his judgement that he felt that Obama has been calm, thoughtful and intellectually curious though the financial crisis and that those charateristics moved him into the Obama camp.

Stick a fork in them, they are done. I think the 72 inch drapes will be fine thank you.

Mahalo's take: http://www.mahalo.com/Colin_Powell_Meet_The_Press

The Belly of the Beast

So what are we to make of the hypocrisy of a candidate who on the stump runs hard against the eastern liberal media elite, and yet has no problem crawling into the belly of the beast when it suits her purpose? Are we to believe she is so vapid that there is no cognitive dissonance? Or is it a case of situational ethics? Or just one big 'ole hoot to go on a TV show? One thing for certain she had no problem throwing the Alaska life style under a 5th Avenue bus for a laugh last night. I wonder if Harriet the Hunter, or Nanuk the Native American, enjoyed being mocked by SNL while Sarah bopped along in time to the rap? Do they do a lot of rap in Alaska?

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-palin-rap/773781/

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/gov-palin-cold-open/773761/

CNTRL-ALT-DEL on Blog Spot

Welcome!

As of the October of 2008 this blog is changing. This is the place where I will reflect on life and the world around me, from a personal point of view. I will continue to blog about K12 education Web 2.0 issues and ideas, at my other blog- Life In The Fast Lane (http://stevesoko.edublogs.org).

For a log time I had been kind of playing with Blogger vs Word Press to learn the different tools offered by each. I had been blogging on educational issues and cross posting them in both places and it kind of got jumbled and I got lazy. I also found that I was mixing commentary on life in general and education. I believe I have a voice (albeit a minor one) in the K12 Education community and I want to continue that with whatever small audience that has. So, I am going to do that at Life In The Fast Lane . I want to make that my voice about my profession.

And yet, I find myself wanting to say some things about life in general. Inspired in part by my good friend Douglas' new blog - It's Not About Me, and a sense that some things I need to say are not connected to education but more my political opinions or chronicling my reactions life around me, I am going to keep that commentary here. And at least I will feel better about teasing Douglas and his posts by writing here rather than cluttering his blog with long wordy comments.

So consider this a CNTRL-ALT-DEL on this blog and welcome or welcome back.