“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
McCain supporters said the flags were discovered by a vendor at Denver’s Invesco Field after the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention. The vendor supposedly found trash bags full of flags in and near garbage bins, and turned them over to the McCain campaign.
American elections are won or lost state by state, and here’s Obama’s problem: he’s got all the big dark blue states (like New York) and no boom in partisan popularity in the hotbeds of the Eastern establishment are going to add to his electoral votes.
The Rust Belt and the Rockies have been teetering between blue and red for the last four years. This election will be won or lost on Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. (With Joe Lieberman campaigning for McCain in South Florida, Obama can probably concede that state.) Palin is a western governor with a libertarian streak–a cross between Ronald Reagan and Annie Oakley–which ought to do well out west. No amount of Biden’s bloviating or Obama’s oratory is going to win them more rural votes out west. I’d say Colorado and Nevada go pink this year, and New Mexico is REALLY close.
Then there’s the Rust Belt. Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania are in play in a big way. McCain can concede inner-city Philadelphia but he’s back in the race for the suburbs. He won’t win State College, PA, but he’s going to fight Joe Biden for Altoona, Allentown, Harrisburg, and everything north of Pittsburgh. Obama COULD NOT have said anything more damaging than his “bitter” quote, and Palin pounced on it in prime-time. Pennsylvanians don’t like people who say one thing in Scranton and another in San Francisco. If Obama loses Pennsylvania, it’s over.
Michigan is the one state where race really is going to affect the outcome. A black mayor just resigned in scandal in Detroit. Hard economic times make people tense, and there are plenty of white guys who feel like they can’t feed their families because of affirmative action. McCain and Palin aren’t going to run as the White People’s Party, but they’re going to do everything they can to put Palin in front of union men who are sick and tired of being blamed for black America’s woes. The “angry white male” is out there–all they need to do is vote, and McCain wins Michigan.
Then there’s the Evangelical base, which is OVER THE MOON about Palin. (I speak for myself, here.) I think they’ll give McCain the edge in Kansas, and Missouri, and maybe even Iowa.
The Show-Me State is going to be interesting. It has a big African-American population, but it’s still arguably in the Bible Belt. I don’t think Obama has done what he needs to win in Missouri. Missouri’s most famous obscure vice-presidential pick once said, “The buck stops here.” The One from Illinois says it’s “above his pay grade” to decide when babies acquire human rights.
The only state where Palin might conceivably cause the Republicans to lose a state they might have won with a different pick is New Hampshire. I think the Granite State would have responded well to a Lieberman pick, but only at the cost of half a dozen others. If McCain unleashes Sarah Barracuda on the Rockies and the Rust Belt, he can go back to town hall meetings in Manchester and get back in the game there. I’ll bet he can win New Hampshire if he wants it.
None of this says McCain/Palin win it. It is, after all, a “Hail Sarah” pass, and it’s hard to catch a football fifty yards down the field when you’re five points down in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Sarah can stumble, and the press is twice as ready to pounce as they were when they went offsides on the last play.
But…
It’s far and away the most fun politics has been in my lifetime! We’re looking at two championship teams that are both “on their game” for the Super Bowl. Let’s wish all Americans well as we enjoy self-government at its finest!
Sep 6, 2008 - 7:10 am
and here's something interesting I've thought about, and I'd wager Rat has too--
Chuck Pelto:
TO: CalDem RE: [OT] THAT Problem….
3-4 metropolitan counties run the other 48-49 counties completely out of state politics. — CalDem
….is EVERYWHERE in this nation.
It’s not necessarily a matter of party politics, although most metropolitan areas seem to be dominated by the Democrat Party.
The most important reason for that problem stems from a Supreme Court ruling in 1964; Reynolds v. Simms. Infamously misnomered as the One-Man/One-Vote ruling.
What it did was destroy the balance of legislative power between metropolitan and rural areas by declaring that at the state level the state senate MUST be elected based on population and NOT on geography. This destroyed the concept of what we enjoy at the federal level in Congress known as The Great Compromise; wherein the House of Representatives is based on population of a state and the Senate is based on all states being equal, geographically.
Now, here in Colorado, the Denver metropolitan area holds 17 of the 35 seats in the Colorado State Senate. And Denver is continually sucking up all the resources it can handle through that overbearing presence in the upper house.
EVERY state in the Union, less Nebraska—which has a one-house legislative body—was affected by this insidious and heinous ruling. And the situation is just going to keep getting worse until the Supremes revisit this ruling and overthrow it.
I would LIKE to see the McCain-Palin campaign address this problem.
Doug, thanks for sharing.
All that and She's the Gov of Alaska TOO?
ReplyDeleteShe can hunt, cook, clean, build, reform, kick ass, have a clear head and run business?
the glass ceiling is no more.
This girl seems a walking argument agianst the wisdom of passing city ordinances, like some Texas city did, banning low slung pants on the kids.
ReplyDeleteThat's gotta be Santa Cruz.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteT is correct. I missed it and will give the proper credit.
ReplyDeleteFirst it was Barack's destitute brother who needs a home, now it's Old Glory.
ReplyDeleteMcCain supporters, claiming they rescued 12,000 miniature American flags from the site of Barack Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last Thursday, redistributed the orphan flags to audience members ahead of a McCain rally in Colorado Springs on Saturday.
McCain supporters said the flags were discovered by a vendor at Denver’s Invesco Field after the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention. The vendor supposedly found trash bags full of flags in and near garbage bins, and turned them over to the McCain campaign.
Here's a good look at the election--
ReplyDeleteScott Somerville:
American elections are won or lost state by state, and here’s Obama’s problem: he’s got all the big dark blue states (like New York) and no boom in partisan popularity in the hotbeds of the Eastern establishment are going to add to his electoral votes.
The Rust Belt and the Rockies have been teetering between blue and red for the last four years. This election will be won or lost on Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. (With Joe Lieberman campaigning for McCain in South Florida, Obama can probably concede that state.) Palin is a western governor with a libertarian streak–a cross between Ronald Reagan and Annie Oakley–which ought to do well out west. No amount of Biden’s bloviating or Obama’s oratory is going to win them more rural votes out west. I’d say Colorado and Nevada go pink this year, and New Mexico is REALLY close.
Then there’s the Rust Belt. Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania are in play in a big way. McCain can concede inner-city Philadelphia but he’s back in the race for the suburbs. He won’t win State College, PA, but he’s going to fight Joe Biden for Altoona, Allentown, Harrisburg, and everything north of Pittsburgh. Obama COULD NOT have said anything more damaging than his “bitter” quote, and Palin pounced on it in prime-time. Pennsylvanians don’t like people who say one thing in Scranton and another in San Francisco. If Obama loses Pennsylvania, it’s over.
Michigan is the one state where race really is going to affect the outcome. A black mayor just resigned in scandal in Detroit. Hard economic times make people tense, and there are plenty of white guys who feel like they can’t feed their families because of affirmative action. McCain and Palin aren’t going to run as the White People’s Party, but they’re going to do everything they can to put Palin in front of union men who are sick and tired of being blamed for black America’s woes. The “angry white male” is out there–all they need to do is vote, and McCain wins Michigan.
Then there’s the Evangelical base, which is OVER THE MOON about Palin. (I speak for myself, here.) I think they’ll give McCain the edge in Kansas, and Missouri, and maybe even Iowa.
The Show-Me State is going to be interesting. It has a big African-American population, but it’s still arguably in the Bible Belt. I don’t think Obama has done what he needs to win in Missouri. Missouri’s most famous obscure vice-presidential pick once said, “The buck stops here.” The One from Illinois says it’s “above his pay grade” to decide when babies acquire human rights.
The only state where Palin might conceivably cause the Republicans to lose a state they might have won with a different pick is New Hampshire. I think the Granite State would have responded well to a Lieberman pick, but only at the cost of half a dozen others. If McCain unleashes Sarah Barracuda on the Rockies and the Rust Belt, he can go back to town hall meetings in Manchester and get back in the game there. I’ll bet he can win New Hampshire if he wants it.
None of this says McCain/Palin win it. It is, after all, a “Hail Sarah” pass, and it’s hard to catch a football fifty yards down the field when you’re five points down in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Sarah can stumble, and the press is twice as ready to pounce as they were when they went offsides on the last play.
But…
It’s far and away the most fun politics has been in my lifetime! We’re looking at two championship teams that are both “on their game” for the Super Bowl. Let’s wish all Americans well as we enjoy self-government at its finest!
Sep 6, 2008 - 7:10 am
and here's something interesting I've thought about, and I'd wager Rat has too--
Chuck Pelto:
TO: CalDem
RE: [OT] THAT Problem….
3-4 metropolitan counties run the other 48-49 counties completely out of state politics. — CalDem
….is EVERYWHERE in this nation.
It’s not necessarily a matter of party politics, although most metropolitan areas seem to be dominated by the Democrat Party.
The most important reason for that problem stems from a Supreme Court ruling in 1964; Reynolds v. Simms. Infamously misnomered as the One-Man/One-Vote ruling.
What it did was destroy the balance of legislative power between metropolitan and rural areas by declaring that at the state level the state senate MUST be elected based on population and NOT on geography. This destroyed the concept of what we enjoy at the federal level in Congress known as The Great Compromise; wherein the House of Representatives is based on population of a state and the Senate is based on all states being equal, geographically.
Now, here in Colorado, the Denver metropolitan area holds 17 of the 35 seats in the Colorado State Senate. And Denver is continually sucking up all the resources it can handle through that overbearing presence in the upper house.
EVERY state in the Union, less Nebraska—which has a one-house legislative body—was affected by this insidious and heinous ruling. And the situation is just going to keep getting worse until the Supremes revisit this ruling and overthrow it.
I would LIKE to see the McCain-Palin campaign address this problem.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Sep 6, 2008 - 9:04 am
cant we all just agree that this bitch needs to be plowed HARD?
ReplyDelete