“You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
Obama isn’t stupid enough to say that with reference to Palin, and McCain should be smart enough to just chuckle at Obama’s “insensitivity” to lipstick and hockey moms and shut up. Obama stabbed himself but not badly. The Republicans ought to have people smart enough to accept that kind of break without running out to call attention to it. Ye gods. “Let’s get some lipstick on this pig” is pretty standard exhortation from sales managers who have an inferior but highly profitable product to push.
It was stupid and unprofessional of the McCain managers to react to that, and were I the candidate or his campaign manager I’d take a hard look at those who suggested it would be a good idea to react. Me, I’d fire someone for that: you don’t give the opposition any kind of opening by reacting to trivia, and nailing a scalp to the wall might enlighten some others. Phony outrage is very bad tactics.
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One pundit today says that Palin must avoid press conferences because she wouldn’t be able to explain why she “disagrees with the overwhelming scientific consensus on man-caused Global Warming.” Wow. If that’s their idea of the kind of tough questions that will show Palin is an idiot, they’ve got a surprise coming.
Another question has to do with earmarks and the bridge to nowhere. That one’s a bit tougher, but every politician I ever heard of has had learning experiences, and has been faced with conflicts between one’s principles and the realities of politics. A good example is McCain on immigration: he is still in favor of what amounts to amnesty for illegals who don’t become criminals, but he has also said that he accepts the decision of the American people that there can be no discussion of “comprehensive reform” until the borders are secure. (Aside: I’d rather he changed his attitude, but I am convinced that McCain is a man of his word; and that beats the daylights out of the official Obama position on immigration. Immigration is important. The American culture has thrived in the past, but that was when The Melting Pot was both the ideal and the practice: one came here and learned to become an American. The problem is that The Melting Pot isn’t what those who praise “diversity” are after; and even if that became the goal again, there’s only so much of any one culture that the pot can melt. The pot is pretty nearly full: it needs to be given a chance to do its thing, lest we lose what made us America.)
In the case of earmarks and that silly bridge, I can easily see how a young and inexperienced governor could be talked into not opposing what looks like a boon to the state; after all everyone else is doing it. I can also see her husband and friends taking her into the woodshed for compromising principles, and coming out more determined than ever. I know people that has happened to. I could even find some related incidents in my own life. I’m just glad she got the experience early on.
Full disclosure for those few who haven’t figured it out: I am no fan of McCain and I detest the Country Club Republicans who took over when Newt Gingrich left the Speaker’s Office.
I was one of Newt’s advisors and while he and I have and had our differences, I think the country is very much worse off without him as Speaker, and we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in had he remained. But while I have disdain for the the Country Club Republicans — to put a fine point on it see Exeter’s speech to the Dauphin — I have even less regard for the anti-Clinton establishment who have taken control of the Democrats. And no, that doesn’t make me an admirer of Clinton and the New Democrats; it does mean that I think the New Democrats (who have been thoroughly defeated) are more likely to pay attention to realities than crazy theories; and this isn’t true of those who are now running things. I’m a lot more afraid of the Daily Kos than I am of Bill Clinton.
There are a lot of Republicans I’d rather see running for President, but McCain has made promises I believe he will keep, which makes him something a lot better than a standard Country Club Republican. To me the ideal outcome of the election would be McCain wins, and the Democrats lose some seats but retain a majority in the House, with the Senate nearly divided. That would give the Republicans a chance to reflect and perhaps even get back their soul. It might even spark the more thoughtful among the electorate to understand that politics can’t be left to the nutcases and those out in the fever swamps of ideology, or to those whose only goal is trading favors and playing the old games of privilege at the expense of the population. It might get those who think they haven’t time or interest in politics to realize that just because they are not interested in politics doesn’t mean that politics is not interested in them. It might persuade Americans to take back their government.
America used to be run by about 50,000 self-selected precinct and party workers, few of them ideologues. I explained some of that in my introduction to Heinlein’s Take Back Your Government.
This may be a pivotal election, but not for the reasons most think. What I hope will happen is that it will make the sane people in both political parties understand something we have always known: eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Part of that price is that one must be involved. You can’t just leave it to those with an axe to grind. We have run that experiment, and we know the outcome.
Dr. Jerry Pournelle is an American Science Fiction writer, essayist and journalist. Visit his website: http://jerrypournelle.com
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