Sep 16 2008
Sep 16 2008
"All this stuff about how different Barack Obama is, they're not just used to somebody really smart. They're just not used to somebody who's really well educated. They just don't know quite how to handle it. Cause if he's as smart as Barack is he must not be from my neighborhood."Oh, and the woman introducing Joe Biden calls Sarah Palin, "A bucket of fluff," Biden laughs and pumps fists at the crowd in support.
Sep 16 2008
Results of a program using Aspen’s Canary Initiative to sell carbon offset credits to Democratic National Convention attendees are a little underwhelming. The program, set up by the DNC Host Committee through the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau and rolled out about a week before the convention started, raised a total of $18.34 worth of Canary Tags, offsetting 0.9 tons of carbon emissions. The offsets were aimed at DNC-goers other than the official delegates, who had a separate carbon offset program through Vermont-based Native Energy. That program, set up in January through the Democratic National Convention Committee, was utilized by 65 percent of the DNC’s 4,440 delegates. . . . Peterson was hoping funds raised through the host committee for the DNC could be used for a signature project. But that will not be possible, as less than $20 was raised. “Here’s three (compact fluorescent) light bulbs for the office,” Peterson said.This story, not unsurprisingly, hasn't appeared in the local Denver MSM yet. Targeted at thousands of DNC-goers other than official delegates, some of whom are presumably at least vaguely sympathetic to the Democrats and their causes (like the media), they still couldn't muster a crisp $20, let alone a few Benjamins? Money that would make evident the imperative to tackle global warming/climate change, and dispel accusations that the "green" effort of the DNC and the policies of the limousine-liberals in the Democrat party are nothing more than lip service to one of their signature issues? Of course not. The delegates themselves managed a measly 65% participation rate. Either even dyed-in-the-wool rank-and-file Dems don't believe the global warming hoax, or it just hasn't been raised to a level of crisis high enough for action. Or more likely, Democrats believe that any crisis is best solved by throwing more government money at it--but certainly not their own. Democrats--putting your money where their mouth is for decades.
Sep 16 2008
Sep 16 2008
On buying health insurance directly from an insurance company instead of through one’s employer, ABC News Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson states:
The idea that individuals are going to have enough knowledge and enough savvy and enough insight and, frankly, enough guts to make choices all by themselves is pretty much a pipe dream.
So I guess the 15 million peoplein the United States who have priavate non-group insurance are hallucinating? Has Dr. Johnson never heard of an insurance broker, or on-line resources of how to buy a plan? (Like this one, or this one.) Or that people shop for surgery?
Gosh, it’s a wonder that people who are stuck with their employer’s insurance “enough savvy and enough insight and, frankly, enough guts to make choices all by themselves” to accept the job offer in the first place. Let alone interview!
As Amy Menefee of the Galen Institute points out, ABC’s Web site claims that Johnson is “one of the nation’s leading medical communicators of health care information.” This humorous scene from the BBC show, Prime Minister about education and health care shows what Dr. Johnson is really communicating:
Brook Terry of the Texas Public Policy Foundation comments.
(Thanks to Paul Hsieh for suggesting I post the video here.)
Sep 16 2008
The $1.6 million Obama home in Chicago sits next to a lot once owned by good friend Tony Rezko. The Obamas bought their home in a shady deal linked to convicted felon Rezko. (CBS2)
Then there's former Vice President Al Gore's ark:
Obviously, Gore the carbon offset business has been good to Gore.
The Kerrys, Pelosis, McCains, etc. all own several homes.
Then there is Todd and Sarah Palin's home:
Todd built the house years ago after the couple married.
They still live there today.
Obviously, the Palin family is not your average Washington couple.
Sep 16 2008
A lot has been made in recent weeks of “The Palin Effect”, re-energizing the base, moving McCain ahead in the polls, etc.
While a lot has been made of this, especially the stuff about appealing to conservatives, I would note that McCain already had about 90% support among Republicans…more than Obama’s support among Democrats. So while re-energizing the base is helpful, especially for some fund-raising and getting volunteers out to help the campaign, the more important impact is among suburban women who might consider themselves moderates.
Certainly Palin appeals to soccer moms because she’s an Alaskan version of one. And the liberal media’s attempts to drag Palin through the mud will backfire on them unless they find a really serious problem.
But what is talked about less than the pro-McCain/Palin reaction of her selection, and what I think is just as important, is the implication for the Obama campaign: It was remarkably easy, at least initially, to get a lot of white women to move away from supporting him.
My thesis is that they didn’t truly support him to begin with. The mantra of “change” isn’t actually a great seller with suburban moms who don’t believe their lives are as bad as Obama says they are. They don’t see the world going to hell in a handbasket, even though they don’t love our current government, the war, and a weakening economy. They’re somewhat dissatisfied, but not enough to bet their kids’ futures on a guy with nothing more than platitudes to offer, and unspecified “change” as a platform.
Obama polls extremely poorly on questions of leadership and readiness. These are issues which point directly to national security or, in more plain language, the safety of our children…which is what soccer moms care about most. They weren’t excited about an old white guy as our next president, and Obama’s charisma moved them to his side initially. But it isn’t where they want to be.
The Palin Effect is, in my view, more a symptom of Obama being a weak candidate (certainly much weaker than Hillary Clinton) than of the country desperately wanting Sarah Palin. But Palin was the catalyst that let a large number of politically barely-active voters, especially suburban women, realize Obama’s weakness, especially when Obama’s stature is consistently degraded by having his qualifications compared to hers rather than to McCain’s. And for that I thank her. She’s far from my perfect candidate, but if McCain wins the election, his choice of running mate will be the reason. And in that sense, (since VP choices are usually irrelevant) she’ll make history twice.
