Who knows if Sarah Palin is running?
One thing we do know for sure is that her bus is running. Thats right, if you see an over-size copy of the US Constitution speeding down Main St. in your town then chances are the Mama Grizzly is headed your way.
Sarah Palin has the media in a stirred frenzy over where she will stop next. I'm still not convinced if she knows where she's going next. She has even resorted to childhood hide and seek, putting the big bus in one area of a hotel parking lot and sneaking off to Gettysburg through another door. (now thats "lamestream")
This isn't presidential politics as we have come to know it, but its Palin politics. And my opinion is, as much as I hate to say it, we had better get used to it.
Lets face it, Sister Sarah had pizza with Donald Trump yesterday, and I can assure you they weren't exchanging beauty tips.
Palin appears to be doing one of two things. The first option is that she's whipping the media attention with her calculated whisk to boost book sales, donations to here PAC and the Palin brand as a whole. This option is perfectly plausible considering how self absorbed Sarah is. She's made her money post governorship by plastering her name to anything or anyone who breathes Ronald Regan conservatism and TV camera nearby.
There's no doubt in my mind that Palin wants more than a NYT Best Seller. Like her or not, shes got ambition...and a big bus.
Thats why, to me, the second option seems more plausible. All this hoop-la is precursor to Sarah Palin's 2012 Presidential run. Why? ...glad you asked...
Even the former Alaskan Governor is smart enough to see that the field of candidates on the Republican side is...well...boring. Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney aren't exactly the kind of people who pack campaign stops with throngs of faithful voters.
Sarah Palin, can and will still do that though. Her negatives are high, and that will certainly hurt her, but like her or not she has a segment of faithful followers ready to reach into their pockets, donate, work and vote for Sarah Palin.
She can be the Mike Huckabee of '08 only stronger, and with the money to go the distance. With Huck bowing out of a 2012 run, Palin can make a strong case for his segment of the voting public and lets face it, the people who show up at the polls are died in the wool conservatives, with no compromise.
Those are the people Sarah Palin inspires. For all the flaws level headed progressives like myself see in her, they see a hero.
If the Mama Grizzly can re-capture the magic she had in 2008 when John McCain introduced her to the world, that bus you see riding through your town just might be carrying the next GOP nominee.
If she runs, her message to the establishment will be get on or get out of the way. If she runs, I bet she wins the nod.
Those are all big "if's" that have all of us following a big bus.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Nothing Newt Under the Sun
It finally happened today. An announcment 8 or more years in the making.
Newt Gingrich will run for president.
Until now, he's made it an art form to keep the nation guessing on whether or not he would make a run both in '08 and up until this point. He did it, in part because he does love his country and he does feel he has the best ideas to run it. (I disagree), but I won't dispute that. But, Newt also held us hostage as to his decision because he wanted to stay realavent. He wanted to sell books and stay atop the NYT Bestsellers list. He enjoys the money from the speaking circuit.
Newt is the latest in a field of weak Republican cantidates to declare that they will run. A field which has to have any honest Republican voter nervous. Newt won't win the Nomination, he won't even be talked about as a front runner.
Turn back the pages of time and find a President who a) has never been elected state-wide b)never served in the military or c)never served in a Presidential cabinet.
Keep looking....I'll wait. No, further back.
All Newt has won is a Congressional Disctrict. Small potatoes considering the pool of Presidential Campaigning he has dipped his toes into and is now about to dive into. Newt's time as speaker was preceeded by a stint as Minority Whip. His pedecessor in that position: Dick Cheney. His successor: Tom Delay.
Thats a rotten political sandwich.
Almost as rotten is Newts 180 degree turn from unfaithful husband to moral crusader. How can he in the same breath defend his infidelity as "love for his country" and state his case against gay marriage.
Then there's his mistatements in his much awaited announcment today. Politifact called Newt's claim that he "balanced the budget and paid off $405 million dollars in debt" during his time as speaker false.
The truth on the budget: The federal budget runs on a fiscal year calendar that begins October 1 and ends September 30. During fiscal years 1996 and 1997 -- the first two that Gingrich helped shape as speaker -- there were deficits, of $107 billion in 1996 and about $22 billion in 1997.
By fiscal year 1998, the federal budget did reach a surplus of $69 billion. And in fiscal year 1999 -- which Gingrich can claim some responsibility for, even though he was out as speaker for most of the fiscal year -- it was in surplus as well, to the tune of $126 billion.
The truth on debt: The national debt was slightly above $4.8 trillion when Gingrich became House speaker in January 1995. By the time he left the position in January 1999, the debt was more than $5.6 trillion. That’s an increase, not a decrease.
If you look just at the two years Gingrich can claim credit for where the federal government was in surplus -- fiscal years 1998 and 1999 -- the government did pay down about $200 billion in debt. But that would be cherry-picking, because over the full four years of his speakership, the debt rose by about $800 billion.
The other glaring truth is that Newt's political star has likely fallen.
Before he worries about "Winning the future" as president. He may want to worry about winning a primary state. If he doesn't he will no doubt write a book, sign a contract with Fox News and head out on the speaking trail again.
Proving that there really is nothing Newt under the political sun.
Newt Gingrich will run for president.
Until now, he's made it an art form to keep the nation guessing on whether or not he would make a run both in '08 and up until this point. He did it, in part because he does love his country and he does feel he has the best ideas to run it. (I disagree), but I won't dispute that. But, Newt also held us hostage as to his decision because he wanted to stay realavent. He wanted to sell books and stay atop the NYT Bestsellers list. He enjoys the money from the speaking circuit.
Newt is the latest in a field of weak Republican cantidates to declare that they will run. A field which has to have any honest Republican voter nervous. Newt won't win the Nomination, he won't even be talked about as a front runner.
Turn back the pages of time and find a President who a) has never been elected state-wide b)never served in the military or c)never served in a Presidential cabinet.
Keep looking....I'll wait. No, further back.
All Newt has won is a Congressional Disctrict. Small potatoes considering the pool of Presidential Campaigning he has dipped his toes into and is now about to dive into. Newt's time as speaker was preceeded by a stint as Minority Whip. His pedecessor in that position: Dick Cheney. His successor: Tom Delay.
Thats a rotten political sandwich.
Almost as rotten is Newts 180 degree turn from unfaithful husband to moral crusader. How can he in the same breath defend his infidelity as "love for his country" and state his case against gay marriage.
Then there's his mistatements in his much awaited announcment today. Politifact called Newt's claim that he "balanced the budget and paid off $405 million dollars in debt" during his time as speaker false.
The truth on the budget: The federal budget runs on a fiscal year calendar that begins October 1 and ends September 30. During fiscal years 1996 and 1997 -- the first two that Gingrich helped shape as speaker -- there were deficits, of $107 billion in 1996 and about $22 billion in 1997.
By fiscal year 1998, the federal budget did reach a surplus of $69 billion. And in fiscal year 1999 -- which Gingrich can claim some responsibility for, even though he was out as speaker for most of the fiscal year -- it was in surplus as well, to the tune of $126 billion.
The truth on debt: The national debt was slightly above $4.8 trillion when Gingrich became House speaker in January 1995. By the time he left the position in January 1999, the debt was more than $5.6 trillion. That’s an increase, not a decrease.
If you look just at the two years Gingrich can claim credit for where the federal government was in surplus -- fiscal years 1998 and 1999 -- the government did pay down about $200 billion in debt. But that would be cherry-picking, because over the full four years of his speakership, the debt rose by about $800 billion.
The other glaring truth is that Newt's political star has likely fallen.
Before he worries about "Winning the future" as president. He may want to worry about winning a primary state. If he doesn't he will no doubt write a book, sign a contract with Fox News and head out on the speaking trail again.
Proving that there really is nothing Newt under the political sun.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
It takes a Democrat: Mission (finally) Accomplished
I sat spellbound with the rest of America on Sunday night as news came across the television of a Barack Obama press conference.
"It has to be Osama, something with Osama," I thought to myself as the networks switched over to dishoveled anchors who had no doubt been rushed into the studio like jounralistic minutemen.
It turns out, it was Osama. Osama Bin Laden had been killed.
I will never forget where I was on 9/11 when the plane hit the first tower: Mr. Crews' U.S. History class. It wasn't until homeroom some 30 minutes later that we got a clearer picture. One that clearly painted that we as a nation were under attack.
I will also never forget where I was when news of Osama's death came across the airwaives of television and the wires of social networking. Sitting in my living room, thinking to myself, "it has to be Osama."
I thought something else too.
"Thank God its Obama." Almost ten years after I sat in my desk as a high school freshman and saw the horrors of terrorism first hand, the man who was responsible for all of that horror was dead. Ironically though, the President that was responsible for authorizing the operation wasn't the one we might have anticipated.
Since the days after September 11, 2001 we have been spoon-fed a lie by the Republican party: that they are the only party who could keep us safe in the face of terrorism. The GOP successfully fear-mongered their way into re-election in 2004 by convincing voters that they were the strongest on national security. They strong-armed a war hero in John Kerry, and effectively labled a man who had fought and saved lives in Vietnam as "weak."
They in effect said the Democrats aren't strong enough on national defense to keep us safe.
They were wrong.
At the 2004 Republican convention, keynote speaker Rudy Guiliani recounted the day of the infamous attacks: "I turned to Bernard Kerick and said thank God George W. Bush is our President." Whether Rudy said that because he thought Dubbya would keep us safer, or be the president in office when Bin Laden was captured, is not important.
Rudy was wrong.
Because at the end of they day it is Barack Obama, a democrat, who has re-focused our mission from an illegal unfounded war in Iraq back to the war against Al-quaeda in Afghanistan. It was Barack Obama, a democrat, who authorized the mission to kill the world's number one terrorist. It was Barack Obama, a democrat, who stepped out in front of the country and the world on Sunday night and told us all that the mission was successful.
Eight years to the day from Sunday Night's announcment, then President Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier, in a flight suit in front of a banner with "Mission Accomplished" emblazoned across it.
Eight years later Barack Obama, a democratic President, from the very same party in the oval office when we won WWII, actually got something accomplished.
When you weigh what the previous Republican administration gave us in the area of national security and what Barack Obama has given us so far there is only one logical conclusion:
Thank God Barack Obama is our President.
"It has to be Osama, something with Osama," I thought to myself as the networks switched over to dishoveled anchors who had no doubt been rushed into the studio like jounralistic minutemen.
It turns out, it was Osama. Osama Bin Laden had been killed.
I will never forget where I was on 9/11 when the plane hit the first tower: Mr. Crews' U.S. History class. It wasn't until homeroom some 30 minutes later that we got a clearer picture. One that clearly painted that we as a nation were under attack.
I will also never forget where I was when news of Osama's death came across the airwaives of television and the wires of social networking. Sitting in my living room, thinking to myself, "it has to be Osama."
I thought something else too.
"Thank God its Obama." Almost ten years after I sat in my desk as a high school freshman and saw the horrors of terrorism first hand, the man who was responsible for all of that horror was dead. Ironically though, the President that was responsible for authorizing the operation wasn't the one we might have anticipated.
Since the days after September 11, 2001 we have been spoon-fed a lie by the Republican party: that they are the only party who could keep us safe in the face of terrorism. The GOP successfully fear-mongered their way into re-election in 2004 by convincing voters that they were the strongest on national security. They strong-armed a war hero in John Kerry, and effectively labled a man who had fought and saved lives in Vietnam as "weak."
They in effect said the Democrats aren't strong enough on national defense to keep us safe.
They were wrong.
At the 2004 Republican convention, keynote speaker Rudy Guiliani recounted the day of the infamous attacks: "I turned to Bernard Kerick and said thank God George W. Bush is our President." Whether Rudy said that because he thought Dubbya would keep us safer, or be the president in office when Bin Laden was captured, is not important.
Rudy was wrong.
Because at the end of they day it is Barack Obama, a democrat, who has re-focused our mission from an illegal unfounded war in Iraq back to the war against Al-quaeda in Afghanistan. It was Barack Obama, a democrat, who authorized the mission to kill the world's number one terrorist. It was Barack Obama, a democrat, who stepped out in front of the country and the world on Sunday night and told us all that the mission was successful.
Eight years to the day from Sunday Night's announcment, then President Bush stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier, in a flight suit in front of a banner with "Mission Accomplished" emblazoned across it.
Eight years later Barack Obama, a democratic President, from the very same party in the oval office when we won WWII, actually got something accomplished.
When you weigh what the previous Republican administration gave us in the area of national security and what Barack Obama has given us so far there is only one logical conclusion:
Thank God Barack Obama is our President.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Abandoning All Hope: The Obama Tragedy
The events of the day are becoming a tragedy only fit for Shakespeare's pen.
In Wisconsin, collective bargaining agreements and Unions are being shamelessly attacked by Republicans. In Libya, protesters in favor of democracy are being ignored. Two terrible situations on opposite sides of the world and the situations themselves are not the most frustrating issue.
The one thing that both have in common is the deafening silence of our President.
If successful, the attack on collective bargaining will demolish an American institution and a strong-arm of the Democratic Party in this country. Obama has been a silent witness to the potential demise of his own party, to say nothing about the demise of one of the basic rights American workers fought so hard to establish.
The chaos in Libya has the old regime weaker than ever and revolution is certainly on the horizon. When strong support for the people’s movement in Libya was needed, Obama read a meek press release that lasted all of five minutes and walked away.
Walked away is much of what this administration has done. Like the old westerns my parents and grandparents watched, the President rode into town guns-a-blazing. They seemed to have ridden out of town just as quickly as and much more quietly than they came in.
It was Dante that put fence-sitters, neutrals and cowards in the same place: on the edge of hell and just inside the sign that said "abandon all hope ye that enter here." At this point in his presidency, I'd put Obama near that sign with the other neutrals because that’s all the American people have seen him be.
Rome is burning, Mr. President. It’s time to stop looking towards 2012 and re-focus on the peril around us now.
No one has said it better than Jim Garrison (President, State of the World Forum and Wisdom University; Author, 'America as Empire'):
“Obama will certainly go down as the first black American president, and this is how he will probably be remembered in the history books. But in terms of the actual significance of his leadership and what he substantively has done during his tenure, feckless -- which means 'unable or unwilling to do anything,' or 'lacking the organization necessary to succeed' -- is the only apt word."
When Obama campaigned with buzzwords such as hope and change, we voted for him to be an agent of the change we saw in him. He hasn't delivered on much of it lately though. The sad reality is that Obama entered the White House with more political capital that any president in recent memory. While he has in some ways tossed his political weight around effectively in areas such as health care reform and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, he has squandered so much more of that capital worrying over Republican "friends", being pragmatic and consensus building.
His potential for transformational greatness has been short circuited by an unwillingness or inability to actually lead. He has somehow lost himself in short term tactical calculations and in the self-delusion that he is somehow a grand conciliator, someone who will preside over squabbling Democrats and Republicans. Given the realities of both parties, combined with his own deficiencies, nothing could be farther from the truth. What is needed in the presidency is a leader, not a referee.
There is still time though. There is still two years (and hopefully another four after that) for the Obama we all were inspired by on the campaign trail to ride back in to town. There is still time to rip the neutrality of this administration out of the jaws of Dante's hell. We need a leader to put the fire out now, before all that's left is smoke and ashes.
In Wisconsin, collective bargaining agreements and Unions are being shamelessly attacked by Republicans. In Libya, protesters in favor of democracy are being ignored. Two terrible situations on opposite sides of the world and the situations themselves are not the most frustrating issue.
The one thing that both have in common is the deafening silence of our President.
If successful, the attack on collective bargaining will demolish an American institution and a strong-arm of the Democratic Party in this country. Obama has been a silent witness to the potential demise of his own party, to say nothing about the demise of one of the basic rights American workers fought so hard to establish.
The chaos in Libya has the old regime weaker than ever and revolution is certainly on the horizon. When strong support for the people’s movement in Libya was needed, Obama read a meek press release that lasted all of five minutes and walked away.
Walked away is much of what this administration has done. Like the old westerns my parents and grandparents watched, the President rode into town guns-a-blazing. They seemed to have ridden out of town just as quickly as and much more quietly than they came in.
It was Dante that put fence-sitters, neutrals and cowards in the same place: on the edge of hell and just inside the sign that said "abandon all hope ye that enter here." At this point in his presidency, I'd put Obama near that sign with the other neutrals because that’s all the American people have seen him be.
Rome is burning, Mr. President. It’s time to stop looking towards 2012 and re-focus on the peril around us now.
No one has said it better than Jim Garrison (President, State of the World Forum and Wisdom University; Author, 'America as Empire'):
“Obama will certainly go down as the first black American president, and this is how he will probably be remembered in the history books. But in terms of the actual significance of his leadership and what he substantively has done during his tenure, feckless -- which means 'unable or unwilling to do anything,' or 'lacking the organization necessary to succeed' -- is the only apt word."
When Obama campaigned with buzzwords such as hope and change, we voted for him to be an agent of the change we saw in him. He hasn't delivered on much of it lately though. The sad reality is that Obama entered the White House with more political capital that any president in recent memory. While he has in some ways tossed his political weight around effectively in areas such as health care reform and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, he has squandered so much more of that capital worrying over Republican "friends", being pragmatic and consensus building.
His potential for transformational greatness has been short circuited by an unwillingness or inability to actually lead. He has somehow lost himself in short term tactical calculations and in the self-delusion that he is somehow a grand conciliator, someone who will preside over squabbling Democrats and Republicans. Given the realities of both parties, combined with his own deficiencies, nothing could be farther from the truth. What is needed in the presidency is a leader, not a referee.
There is still time though. There is still two years (and hopefully another four after that) for the Obama we all were inspired by on the campaign trail to ride back in to town. There is still time to rip the neutrality of this administration out of the jaws of Dante's hell. We need a leader to put the fire out now, before all that's left is smoke and ashes.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Let It Rain If You Love Me
by: Paul Raker, III
Let it rain if you love me.
Let the petals catch the silver
Falling fluid stars.
Streaking, slashing, crashing
The grayskin sky.
And the birds fly away
To their trees
And warm little nests.
The horses feel free again,
Lifting as the birds did
From the ground.
The thunder sings achily
His broken song
Full of battle and loss.
The earth, it listens
And trembles. But you...
You are warm and quiet in my arms.
Listening to my whisper
Rise just above the hush of the rain.
Let it rain if you love me.
Let the petals catch the silver
Falling fluid stars.
Streaking, slashing, crashing
The grayskin sky.
And the birds fly away
To their trees
And warm little nests.
The horses feel free again,
Lifting as the birds did
From the ground.
The thunder sings achily
His broken song
Full of battle and loss.
The earth, it listens
And trembles. But you...
You are warm and quiet in my arms.
Listening to my whisper
Rise just above the hush of the rain.
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