Category Archives: Political Commentary

Political Commentary, Space

An Interesting Interview

5 Comments

…with Mike Griffin.

Not a lot new here for people who have been following it. And I would have a lot bolder vision for a “perfect world” than simply enough money to fly Shuttle while developing the Paintshaker. And he seems to be ignoring the issue that they share facilities and that mods have to occur (unless he was asking for enough money for new facilities for the new launcher).

And this is a useful point:

Q: When I tell non space people about the gap, the response is almost universally “you’re kidding.” Why is that?

Griffin: The ‘you’re kidding’ part and the lack of notice, for several years it was something fairly far off in the future. The actual circumstance doesn’t even occur in the next president’s administration unless that president gets two terms. It certainly wasn’t occurring in this president’s administration and it doesn’t occur in any of the next couple of Congresses, right? Nobody around today was certain to be on scene when the actual consequence occurs. Moreover, I don’t think anybody reading about it in the papers … thought really that it was going to be allowed to come to pass.

A lot of people argue that we need governments to fund things like this because private industry is too short sighted.

Give me a break.

Political Commentary

Tied?

34 Comments

This is just one poll, but it indicates that either Obama didn’t get a convention bounce, or it was negated by events since (and the Republican convention didn’t really get going until last night). If it’s valid, it’s hard to see anything other than the Palin selection as the cause. And note the difference between this poll and the one on the weekend (eight points). As I noted previously, weekend polls are notorious for favoring Democrats.

Also, if valid, it’s bad news for Obama. If McCain gets a convention bounce, he’ll be well in the lead.

Political Commentary

Senator Obama’s Legislative Accomplishments

1 Comment

Alex Knapp points out that he gets a bad rap, at least in his Senate career. I think that a lot of people tend to focus on all his “present” votes in the IL legislature.

But I don’t necessarily judge a legislator by the quantity of laws generated. The quality matters much more to me. In fact, I’d prefer an effective legislator who did nothing other than preventing bad legislation, even if (s)he never originated any. I don’t think that the country suffers from a shortage of laws, particularly federal ones. And I’d really go for someone who would work to overturn much of the bad law currently on the books.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Saracuda

14 Comments

I should state up front that I’m not easily influenced by speechifying. I never got what people thought was so great about Bill Clinton’s speeches–I had trouble stomaching them myself, because they always seemed so fake and disingenuous. And I never understood why Reagan was called “the Great Communicator.” Most of his speeches left me pretty cold as well. I mean, I was fine with the content, but I just never got the all the adulation.

Same thing with Governor Palin. She gave a good speech, had a lot of nice swipes at The One, and I liked most of what she said, as far as it goes. It’s probably too much to expect a lot of policy, given that she’d just come through several days of one of the most vicious media assaults in history, and had to just get the audience to know her. Her voice doesn’t seem as strong as I’d like, but I think that for most people, it must increase her likability factor. It’s also impressive that she managed to give it with teleprompter problems, with no obvious flubs. She either had good notes as a backup, or she really knew that speech. Had Obama been in a similar situation it could have been disastrous (which makes one think of the potential for a very dirty campaign trick if one could breach the security and get control of his prompter during a big speech).

I think that she’s going to be a very good debater, and show people that she’s much more knowledgable than the stereotype so far.

Political Commentary

Palinizing

2 Comments

Victor Davis Hanson defines a new word, sure to go down with “borking.” Or “swiftboating,” except that what that means depends on who you ask.

The liberal left buys into the Gore notion of offsets–that by backing ever more entitlements, and public assistance, the caring liberal is allowed to feel a little tsk, tsk about Alaska moose-hunters, teenage white girls getting pregnant, and small-town mayorships, without incurring the charge of elitism. Writing a story about a struggling family or an illegal alien wrongly deported, introducing a bill to help working moms, announcing that an Obama speech is the equivalent of the Gettysburg Address, all that lets you unload on the Palin’s teenage daughter or Palin herself in ways that any unbiased observer would consider sexist, snobbish, and condescendingly cruel.

Being a mother of a Down syndrome child, raising five children, rising, without money or family influence, to the governorship on an anti-corruption and commonsense platform, in addition to trying to run the largest-sized state in the union, critical to both the energy and defense security of the nation, all that should have made liberals and feminists, if reluctantly, nevertheless appreciative of her success in a mostly male political world.

Not this week, perhaps–but soon there will be a backlash against all this creepiness. Just watch…

Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine a charismatic senator, with Obama’s resume, except that it’s a woman (even make it a black woman if you want, but it shouldn’t really matter that much). Imagine also an equally charismatic governor of Alaska, a rugged outdoorsman who hunts moose and plays hockey with a philosophy of individualism and self reliance, who has started and run successful businesses, risen through politics and vanquished corrupt politicians in his own party. Make him a Democrat if you want.

Which of them would be perceived to be more ready to lead the nation?

Political Commentary

More On Palin The Libertarian

12 Comments

Matt Welch has an interesting interview with an Alaskan Democrat:

Q: So libertarian-minded people should be fine with that, right?

A: Let me tell you all the nice things about Sarah Palin: Sarah Palin has been a pretty freaking awesome governor. She came in saying that the entire system was corrupt, and that Republicans were evil, and she was going to just mix everything up and get us a gas pipeline and end of story. And she got to power, she was elected overwhelmingly by independents, beat Tony Knowles, who had been governor before.

The Republicans hate her. If you go and talk to the Alaska delegation here, they despise her.

Q: Really?

A: Hate her. Oh my god! This whole thing about her retarded son really being her daughter’s was started by Lyda Green, who is president of the senate, a Republican…

Q: I was just talking to someone who claimed to have knowledge of Alaska to some degree, and they say where Sarah Palin comes from it’s the equivalent of Humboldt or Chico in California, like, of course, you know, she’d have a Girls Gone Wild phase, and smoking pot. Is this just wishcasting, or what can you tell us about her geographical background?

A: So the Mat-Su Valley, you know, Matanuska-Susitna Valley, otherwise known as Upper Wingnuttia, is full of right-wing libertarian militia fundamendalist Christian gun-toting, pot-growing dope-heads.

Q: Awesome.

Like totally cool, man.