- Wouldn't you think it a bit off-putting to have a number of your major arguments not only based in ignorance, but actually depending upon the celebration of ignorance in order to be effective? I'm thinking of the denigration of the term "community organizer" in particular. Is there a more clear signal of the Republicans' ignorance of and disdain for the inner-cities than their ridicule of that title?
- I didn't watch Palin's speech, but listened to portions of it on the radio. After having watched film of her actual delivery, I'm far less impressed than I was initially. She has a gift for sounding natural, but her unwavering stare into camera 1 is an unmistakable sign of someone who is reading a teleprompter as if her life depended on it.
- Is no one else weirded-out over the appeal of the "hockey mom" image, or is this another pseudo-folksy appeal that depends on the ignorance of the audience? It's clearly meant to be an Alaskan twist on the common "soccer mom" trope, but having grown up in Hockeytown, there's a clear designation in my mind: the families whose kids were on the hockey teams were the more affluent families—the ones who could afford the equipment.
- I would have missed this one if the Detroit Free Press hasn't highlighted it as McCain's single mention of Michigan: "I fight for Bill and Sue Nebe from Farmington Hills, Michigan, who lost their real estate investments in the bad housing market." Isn't it tone-deaf for McCain to express concern for real estate investors after facing criticism for not knowing how many houses he owns?
- What does it say when nearly everyone, both for and against you, has more to say about your vice-presidential pick than they have to say about you?
Monday, September 08, 2008
Puck you
A few thoughts after some time to digest the Republican convention:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Here's my theory about the Republican view of government:
1) Government cannot help you;
2) The purpose of government is to kill people, in which it is unerring.
As a corollary, the President (so long as he is Republican) and the military are unimpeachable. They do no wrong at home or in the world.
Meanwhile, every other branch of government, all of the nonuniformed civil servants, no matter what they do, is evil and must be abolished.
Furthermore, even nongovernmental agencies that try to help people without a clear profit motive are likewise trivial and easily dismissed, if not equally evil.
What the government should really do is help churches to educate children, convert homosexuals, and preach abstinence + straight marriage and childrearing.
Am I wrong?
Another corollary: the great sins of the Democratic party are to
1) believe that government can help you;
2) doubt that government in its capacity of killing people is always just;
3) support the efforts of nonmarket, nongovernment entities to help people, including especially unions, nonprofits, and community organizers.
I agree with your comments about Palin's delivery. I first heard bits of it on the radio, then saw clips of the actual speech in the following days. Watching her blank face as she read those words, I'm baffled that so many people have praised her delivery so highly.
Post a Comment