careful what you wish for
This is an uncomfortable position conservatives find themselves in as a result of last night’s election results – between electability and the raw passion of the tea party candidates. Not every conservative should be considered electable. For every Nikki Haley – who has shown incredible message discipline and restraint in the face of scurrilous accusations against her – there are several candidates who lack that ability when facing even the smallest challenges. I’ve said this previously, but I think it is important to remember that activists don’t always make the best candidates. They play very different roles in a political party. That’s the thing to remember with some of these winning tea party approved candidates – the transition from one role to the other is sometimes difficult. These populist heroes won’t say the PC thing most of the time and this will get them into trouble with the media. This is what we love about these guys and gals, but it’s an easy way for a nascent campaign to sink before it even leaves the harbor.
I love rebels too, and appreciate the sacrifices those potential candidates have to make to run for office. For that reason, there must be a process of vetting, interviews, and other training to properly prepare them for the challenges they will face. Of course there will always be candidates who are more than a little risky, such as Sharron Angle and Rand Paul, but ultimately the voters in this country win when the average person starts caring enough to take the challenge personally and run for political office. Political parties, and specifically the Republican Party, need to do a better job in nurturing and developing young and unproven talent in their ranks so that they can have a strong farm system for the future and so that we don’t have the same guys running for President every four years.
cut the spending
Paul Krugman says that the emphasis on tax cuts and “starving the beast” is not producing the intended result of reducing spending. He’s right about that. Tax cuts are important, but they are only half of the equation. We really need to emphasize this more; because as valuable and useful as tax cuts are to [...]
elena kagan – it could be worse
How does it add anything to a SCOTUS nominee’s qualifications when it is noted that a nominee’s life story is inspirational, a real American rags-to-riches success story, and so forth and so on? While the life experiences of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor are certainly a made-for-TV movie waiting to happen, they have nothing to [...]
the beginning and the end
It all started out so well for Gordon Brown. After years of being the eternal bridesmaid, he was finally able to don the dress and have his day when Tony Blair handed over the keys to Number 10. Ok…maybe that’s imagery you don’t need. But that’s kind of what happened in 2007. Now-former British PM [...]
good stuff other people wrote
What I’m currently reading: The fallacy that continues to dog Project Cameron – John Rentoul (who wrote this killer Tony Blair bio I totally loved) says that David Cameron’s ideas are just as flawed as Gordon Brown’s. Sad part is that in this battle between the Conservative Party (Cameron) and Labour Party(Brown) one of these [...]
in which my mets are doomed before opening day
George Vescey in the NYT: It is growing late. Too much cable money is being squandered. Jerry Manuel’s laughter has run out its novelty. He is probably set up to fail, waiting for the next era, whatever that will be. In theory, it’s always nice to have a new baseball season, but at Dante Alighieri [...]
the state of the middle ground
America was not designed to be run by elitists – nor was it designed for pure mob rule. What we need to find here is some middle ground – a government that will be responsive to the needs of the people without being subject to the whims of daily polling and public opinion that is [...]
somebody’s not reading from the script
Watch Al Sharpton say something interesting on Fox News: In case you didn’t catch it, Al said that the American public overwhelmingly voted for socialism when they elected President Obama. But that’s not possible. How could such a committed capitalist free-marketeer as President Obama have any intention of implementing anything close to a socialist agenda? [...]
more depressing news
Female Alias fans – join me in a moment of silence as we mourn the recent passage of our own Vaughn from the single life. Michael Vartan’s getting hitched, and in an interesting Alias-related side note — to a woman named Lauren. Guess it had to happen eventually. In all seriousness, I wish the guy [...]
dirty tricks
This is wrong, unethical – and somewhat boneheaded. But enough about what I think about the Dems’ new (old) trick to pass the health care bill. Let’s read what the Washington Post had to say about it (bold text my addition). Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote [...]
