Conventionally Speaking

In 2004, I was watching the Democratic convention the night Barack Obama delivered his address. I thought his speech was as eloquent as any political speech I'd ever heard, and I told myself that if there was ever going to be a black president, Obama would probably be the guy. This was at a time when black presidential candidates were men like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Tonight, twelve years later, President Obama spoke to the DNC again, endorsing HRC and explaining to the nation why Trump is not just bad but bad on an epic scale. I have to admit that any time I hear Obama give a speech like the one tonight, I'm extremely proud to be an American citizen.

Premiums

As soon as the New Enduring Republican Majority abolishes the ACA and implements the NERM healthcare reform program, insurance premiums will never increase; they'll be reduced or stay the same. In other words, things will be as they were in the Era of Universal Contentment --- before Obama came along and destroyed America with his evil Muslim tricks.

Data Mining

This week's scandal involves the NSA and its plan to use information from telecom giants like Verizon to identify and locate potential terrorists. The authority to do stuff like that was enacted during all that post-9/11 patriotic anti-terrorist frenzy. It was a bad idea at the time, but Republicans weren't too bothered because the country was being run by the likes of Bush 43, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, and Karl Rove.

Now that the ON is in charge, conservatives are pissing blood over Big Government intrusion and threats to individual liberty. The same people who have been against FISA all along are equally chapped off. Add the blocs together and it makes a majority.

I have a question, though. Why is it necessary for companies like Verizon to accumulate all that data on its customers in the first place? If I can't trust the feds to use the information appropriately, why should I trust profit-oriented monoliths like Verizon?

The bottom line is that media-driven public fury will probably force the government to scale back, if not terminate, the surveillance activities in question. And as soon as terrorists cause another big explosion that kills a lot of American citizens, the public will be screaming about government's failure to prevent the attack. You'll never go broke overestimating the irrationality of the American people.

Sudden Death

A lot of the power and authority that Republicans were eager to give Bush 43 and Little Dick Cheney doesn't look like such a terrific idea with Obama now calling the shots.

2004 vs 2012, Part Two

In the 2004 presidential election campaign, in the week leading up to the first debate the incumbent president led his challenger from Massachusetts 52-44 in the Gallup poll ending 09/26/2004.

The first debate was held on 09/30/2004, and the moderator was Jim Lehrer. The challenger was widely perceived as having won the debate against a poorly prepared incumbent.

In the next Gallup poll (period ending 10/03/2004), the race was tied 49-49.

I'm still waiting to see if the 2012 race deviates from the 2004 scenario.

Consistency

The GOP message through the years:

• December 2008: I hope Obama fails.
• February 2009: Obama is gonna fail.
• March 2009-December 2009: Obama is failing.
• January 2010 to date: Obama failed.

Distractions

Well, Obama has produced the so-called long form birth certificate that has kept the lunatic fringe in a frothing-at-the-mouth frenzy all these months. I'm not sure why he bothered, though. Sane people were already satisfied with the documents provided originally, and the birther crowd will assume it was fabricated by members of a vast left-wing conspiracy. And of course The Haircut wants to claim a share of the spotlight for himself, crowing like a rooster that he was able to get something done which no one else could accomplish. All in all, this is a perfect distraction for a nation that thrives on TV reality shows.

Analogies

I was reading about the deal Obama has been trying to work out with congressional Republicans over extension of the Bush tax cuts. It seems like many Democratic congress-critters are pissed off and ready to vote against whatever Obama and the GOP come up with. Sometimes it seems like Obama tries too hard to get along with Republicans, who are just waiting for him to turn around so they can stab him in the back. Then I read the Peanuts comic strip above, and realized that in today's political environment, Obama is Charlie Brown and the Republicans are Lucy.

Finishing the job

In his column today, E.J. Dionne reminds us that liberalism, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. He points out that real liberals don't see Obama as one of them, regardless of what conservatives think.

At any rate, we can officially declare that Obama has driven 51.6 percent of Republicans permanently and totally insane. The other 48.4 percent already were. The teapeople would have much more credibility if they'd been bitching and moaning even a little bit during the Bush-Cheney years.

Dirty Harry

Harry Reid is in the soup again. I'm not the only one who's been wondering who died and left this guy the boss, and I'm pretty sure there are other people who'd like to see another Senate majority leader if the Democrats somehow hang onto the majority.

So there are a lot of reasons to be disgruntled about Harry Reid, but I doubt his comments about Obama's complexion and manner of speaking are among them. From what I gather, Reid was assessing those factors in terms of Obama's viability as a candidate, and it appears he was accurate. Still, there are probably a lot of hardcore rightwingers who despise Obama even more because his mother was white. Some old habits die harder than others.

In Oslo

Obama went to Oslo to accept his Nobel Prize, and his address is getting positive reviews from unlikely sources. Even Newt Gingrich had a few complimentary words about it. It won't last, but even a limited, temporary truce is welcome at this point.

Added 9:48 am: Peggy Noonan in the WSJ speculates on Obama's shift to the center of the political spectrum. Somehow, I think Obama has been closer to the center all along than rightwingers pretended he was. For them, it's fun to paint him as some commie socialist Muslim from Kenya, and try to gain a little political advantage from it by keeping idiots stirred up.

Complexity

A column by David Brooks from today's Chronicle website. If all conservatives were as reasonable and intelligent as Brooks, what a wonderful world it would be.

Oh no, not again...

It must be hard to be a right-winger these days, since they're surrounded by commie socialist conspiracies everywhere they turn.

And what kind of a team will the Rams be if the stain in America's underwear succeeds in gaining partial ownership ? Imagine a professional football team with no black dudes. Can you say 2-14 ?

Added 6:33 pm: Just for the sake of argument -- I'm trying to imagine how the conservatards would've reacted if, through some huge clerical error, W. had been awarded a Nobel Prize for anything.

Heads up

Thanks to this nifty blog, I'll be able to watch for the latest viral internet chain letter circulated by the lunatic fringe. As Falkenberg points out, the really troubling thing is that the crazies actually believe chain letters can be used to persuade the gullible, and they're right.

I'm trying to decide if conservatives are a bigger problem when they're running things or when they're not.

Damned liberals

This lady sums up my problems with left-wingers better than I can sum them up myself. Liberals (and by extension, Democrats) are only tolerable as an alternative to conservatives (and by extension, Republicans). If liberals ever learn to organize and unify as effectively as conservatives can (and do), they might be politically formidable.

Obama gives FNC the EMF ?

Conservatives will always find something to whine about. This time, the DMN editorial board is pissing and moaning because Obama didn't go on Fox News talk shows Sunday. In my opinion, that may have been the smartest move he's made in weeks. I doubt if there are 800 people in the country who watch FNC and also hope Obama's administration will succeed in achieving its goals, so fuck 'em.

Dowd pins it down

Mo Dowd's column in the NYT is pretty good.

When Obama was elected with a comfortable popular vote and EC majority, it would've been nice to believe that America had changed in some radical way. In reality, about 46 percent of the voters weren't having any of it, and by constantly behaving like shitasses for eight months, the Limbaugh/Fox News crowd have some of the marginal Obama supporters starting to doubt themselves over their vote last year. I have enough family ties to anti-Obama conservatives that I had no illusions about what he'd be up against.

The diabolical plot against America

This is a summary of what real Americans are up against these days. Two minutes and 49 seconds of educational video, designed to help us understand the enemy.

Unhealthy for us

My bro in Houston says in an e-mail that he's afraid Obama is a political lightweight who's wasting time trying to get along with Republicans, and that we're eventually going to wind up with a watered-down health care reform bill that won't contain costs or expand insurance coverage. I agree with the part about the health care bill -- my biggest concern is always that Congress will pass a bad law which is worse than no law. I'm not quite ready to give Obama a grade yet, since he's only seven months into his first year. But at least one liberal columnist is thinking along the same lines we are.

Added 11:31 am, Sunday: Charlie Cook on the 2010 elections. Says Dems lose House seats but maybe hold the majority ? Would it matter if they did ? And this blog points out something else that may be a factor -- just because people think Democrats suck doesn't mean they're getting all gooey for Republicans. Maybe most people are like me and hate 'em both.

The Nazis are coming, the Nazis are coming

There are still a few conservatives saying and writing things that make sense, and David Frum appears to be one of them. His topic here is the, pardon the expression, liberal misapplication of the terms "Nazi" and "fascist" when hardcore right-wingers are whining about the Obama administration. I used to make the same kind of comparisons when Bush/Cheney/Rove were in charge, but I think I had the stronger case.

Added 4:40 pm, same day: Maybe one of the best articles on this subject I've read yet. From Mike Lupica.